


Release

by kuraragi



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: (sort of), Ako and Rinko are the same age in this AU, Angst, Eventual Romance, F/F, Gaming, Gen, Genetic Disorders, MMORPGs, Romance, Shh, Virtual Reality, but Ako is still the youngest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2020-07-28 04:43:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20058211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuraragi/pseuds/kuraragi
Summary: Minato Yukina hasn't had the best few years of her adolescence, and there have been times when she has wanted to escape all of that. So when her best friend approaches her with an offer to play the latest virtual reality game, she is all for it. And though she is ready for this new challenge, she can't say that she was ready for the impact a certain teal-haired girl would have on her life.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! First thing by me to add to the Bandori fandom, and I hope I’m able to develop this in the way I want to and give you the end of this little story of mine. 
> 
> Super short, as it’s more of an introductory chapter just to kind of set the stage for this story. A recycled idea from an old LL story I was developing and ended up scrapping. Hopefully this one comes to fruition, as I often lose inspiration very quickly. 
> 
> Since this story has a tiny bit of mystery, I will add my tags as the story progresses so that I don’t possibly give anything away.

_ “As of today, it has been one year since rock band Roselia’s notorious comeback. It has been one year, but there have been no answers yet from producer Minato Yuuki in regards to the rumors that revolve around the band’s well-known guitarist, who goes by the name of Hisayo. There have been no updates from inside sources, and the mystery that surrounds the famed guitarist remains unsolved. Next on-” _  
  
She sighed. Has it really been a year already? She can’t quite remember the last time she had reporters and journalists in her face and asking her about her father’s band, but the thought that exactly one year ago was when there were cameras all around her house has made her reluctant to attend school today. It’s all over the news again, so she couldn’t possible escape at least one question from some curious outsider who wanted to know about what had happened to Hisayo. Though as she has said too many times, she didn’t know. She knew just as much about the mysterious Hisayo as anyone, really. She thinks that the only things most people don’t know is that Hisayo is a third year who is in the independent study program at Hanasakigawa Academy. If it weren’t for her father’s occasional rambling in the past, she wouldn’t even know that, so she knew just as much as anyone about the guitarist. Just as she was debating whether she should attend school today or not, she got a text.   
  
** _Lisa _ ** _Hey~! I figured you weren’t gonna want to come to school today, so I thought I’d come by instead~! Just a heads up so you don’t get too surprised when I show up~☆_  
  
Of course, leave it to her best friend to know just about anything and everything about her. She got up to at least get ready for the arrival of her childhood friend, putting herself together just enough to look presentable, as she has yet to change out of her nightgown. As she stroked through her long, silver hair one more time, the doorbell rang, and she hurried down the stairs to let her friend into her home. The moment she turned the knob though, her friend came barreling through. She was nearly knocked to the ground from the force, and must’ve had a very confused face because the brunette turned and immediately apologized to her with a sheepish smile.   
  
“Sorry about that, Yukina! There are reporters outside of your house again, and I didn’t want any of them to push the door open, so I got in as fast as I could.”   
  
Of course there were journalists again. What did she expect? Well, nothing short of this, that’s for sure.   
  
“No worries. At least neither of us got hurt.” the brunette then nodded energetically in agreement and took her hand to lead her up to her own room.   
  
“C’mon! I have something to discuss with you today anyway!” as they made their way to her room, they crossed paths with her father. He looked particularly drained today, and she wasn’t sure if it was the news and reporters, the beer bottles in his hands, or a combination of both.   
  
“Dad, are you okay?” she tried. The weary man looked up at her tiredly before shaking his head and groaning.   
  
“Same old, same old, Yukina.” he said before trudging over to the kitchen.   
  
“Is he getting worse?” Lisa whispered before hurrying them to the privacy of her bedroom, not at all put off by the fact that she wasn’t acknowledged by the older man. He used to at least nod to her. They both forgot when he stopped doing even that.   
  
“I guess? I don’t know. I stopped trying to keep track of how many times he went to the liquor store.” Lisa just nodded gravely, and they both entered her room without another word about her father. He was never a pleasant person to talk about, after all.   
  


**-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-**  
  


“A what?” was what Yukina said when her best friend asked her to play a video game, of all things, with her. “Why?”   
  
“C’mon, Yukina~! Maybe it’ll do you some good since you barely do anything anyway ☆”   
  
“Well I don’t even have FullDive console, old or new. What am I supposed to do? Just buy one right now?”   
  
“You don’t have to. Ako says that her older sister never uses her LiNK, and is willing to lend it to you so that we can all play together~!”   
  
“What’s so important about me? Why does it have to be me that plays this game with you all?”   
  
“Well, honestly, nothing much. Ako and her friend, Rinko, invited me to play with them since the game that they play is moving from PC to FullDive, and since I already have a console, I figured why not? And I asked them if I could invite you, and they’re willing~. So what do you say?”   
  
If it weren’t for her best friend’s pleading eyes, Yukina would like to think that she would have refused to play a game she has never heard anything about, with people she’s never met, and using a device she has never touched. But if she really thought about it, Yukina knows that even if Lisa hadn’t given her this long of a talk, she would have agreed to join their… party? She doesn’t quite know what that means yet, but she didn’t want to interrupt Lisa when she seemed so excited about explaining everything to her--in very little detail, might she add.   
  
Yukina remembers a time when she was much closer to her father, and if it weren’t for the rumors that spread about the guitarist of his band, she knows that their relationship could have continued to be as healthy as it used to be. Despite living under the same roof as him, Yukina has yet to uncover the mystery behind the guitarist, and why the rumors have caused him to deteriorate in such a manner. She may not be an amazing musician like her father, but Yukina would like to believe that she is quite skilled in the area of music. She has listened to all the music her father has written for his band, and when she listened to the guitar, she didn’t hear any differences.   
  
This is also why the rumors confused her so much. The guitarist was apparently ill during the band’s European tour that happened more than two years ago, and had missed three days in total. When she returned, fans at the venues noted that her playing style and stage presence had changed. Many brushed it off though, assuming that Hisayo just hadn’t recovered from her minor cold and fever just yet. She would be in tip-top shape again when Roselia began their Asia tour, is what everyone agreed to believe.   
  
Except the Asia tour never happened. In fact, Roselia and her father had gone radio-silent for a whole year, and her father has yet to give the press or even her an explanation for the sudden muteness.   
  
After a year since the rumors began, Roselia made their first comeback. It was sudden, and no one expected it, but all were happy. The general public was ecstatic to have their favorite rock band back, and Yukina remembers all the hashtags that topped social media charts during that time, as well as all the news reports and articles made on the band. Their return was considered to be one of legends, and it seemed to receive nothing but positivity from the masses--that was until the critics began analyzing the music.   
  
Yukina doesn’t quite remember how or when it started, but soon, instead of seeing fans happily enjoying the new album that was released, she was reading through forum discussions about the change in style of Hisayo’s guitar. She has watched several videos and read several blog posts from guitar critics examining the difference in sound that was given off by the guitar, and though it all seemed negative at first, many of the critics stated that the change wasn’t necessarily bad, just different.   
  
She remembers some stating that the new sound was brighter now, and more flamboyant. It wasn’t as technically good, she recalls reading once, but the new style made the songs more full than before. The rumors that appeared to be negative at first, turned positive, and seemed to make the band more likeable than it was before. But despite the success of the band, Yukina noticed that her father didn’t seem to take it well at all.   
  
He began drinking a lot more and often skipped meals. He didn’t take care of himself anymore, and Yukina remembers the several times she had to steel herself before entering her father’s bedroom to fix it up because of how much of a mess it was. She has found her father passed out on the dining table with a glass or bottle in his hand too many times to count, and in some ways, she cursed the band for making him like this--cursed this Hisayo for making him like this.  
  
Okay, maybe Hisayo didn’t do anything personally, but she has so much influence on her father that he would rather drink his days away than ever hold a conversation with his daughter, and Yukina didn’t know how to take that. Who was this Hisayo? Why is she so important to him? The situation made no sense to Yukina, and though she wanted to make sense of it, her father wouldn’t let her. She found herself unable to hold any meaningful conversation with her father after the release of that first album after Roselia’s year-long, unexplained hiatus. And though the group continues releasing music that receives positive responses from all over, her father never seems satisfied with any of it, and continues to wallow in… whatever this is, exactly.   
  
If only she could talk to Hisayo, then maybe she could figure out a way to bring her father back from his current state. Though the fact of the matter is that no one knows her real name or has seen her face before, let alone knows anything about her, and Yukina feels too timid to go to Hanasakigawa and either wait to see long, green hair, or ask for the girl herself. Yukina isn’t even sure the girl attends classes since she is part of the school’s independent study program, and if she did go to school, then when? And her father won’t tell her anything about the guitarist, so Yukina was stuck with an alcoholic as a father, and the cameras and microphones always in her face. She hated this, but what was she to do? At least her father wasn’t abusive or anything, otherwise that would just make her even more sad about the relationship she currently has with her father.   
  
Maybe a break from all this would do her some good. Yukina brought herself back to the real world and focused on Lisa, who was still rambling about all the little things about this new game they were going to play. Maybe a step away from reality and into a fantasy world would allow her to break away from the things she’s had to shoulder for the past two years. Yeah, this would be good for her. Maybe one day she would return from the fantasy world and see her father with a bright smile on his face again. Oh, Yukina would so want that.   
  
And with a newfound determination to get away from anything and everything, Yukina took her borrowed FullDive console and slipped it onto her head. As instructed by both Ako and Lisa, she lay back on her bed and got as comfortable as she could get with the unfamiliar object around her head. She stared at her ceiling for a few moments and wondered what she would see when she opened her eyes again. And though the thought frightened her, it also excited her.   
  
“LiNK on.”   
  
The hum of the device switching on made her gasp as she had never done this before. The harsh, red hue that exuded from the machine turned the ceiling a different color in her eyes, and for just a moment, Yukina wondered if she should have her eyes closed right now. She did just that in slight fear of what was to come. Yukina didn't know what the other side would look like, what she would see when she opened her gold-colored eyes.   
  
She returned from voluntary darkness for just a moment to stare at her ceiling one more time. When she opened her eyes, she wouldn't see her ceiling anymore--she wouldn't be in the same world that has caused her and her father so much grief, and Yukina didn't quite know how to take that.   
  
_ “Why am I making this so difficult? It's not like I'm physically going anywhere.” _  
  
She willed her eyes closed again and took a deep breath. The world beyond her own will be different, surely, so maybe she can start something new there. No one there would have to know that she's Minato Yuuki's daughter, and she wouldn't have to be plagued with the afterthought of someone literally following in her footsteps so that she could be cornered and barraged with questions.  
  
In this new world, she would be free from all that. It would just be her, Lisa, and their new friends--a new life, in a video game. Yukina chuckled and imagined her past self scowling if she had told the latter that they would one day create a new life for themselves in a virtual realm. The thought was a bit silly to think about, but Yukina was ready to embrace it with open arms.   
  
"Connect."  
  
And so it began. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! If you have a moment, please tell me what you think of this so far (though you don’t have much to work off of, I suppose). I would love to hear from you all! 
> 
> I stole "FullDive console" from SAO because I don't know what else to call it, lol.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While writing the beginning, I realized that I could have implemented an actual talking/calling function, but chats are always fun to write and show a bit of character, so I just stuck with it. 
> 
> Kind of a slow chapter to get things going. This will probably feel like a slow burn most of the way anyway, especially with my current mindset for the story.
> 
> I'm also trying out a different font, so tell me what you think of it! Is it good? Bad? I've come across my fair share of stories that I disliked reading simply because of the way it was presented to me, so let me know how it is!
> 
> Proofread, but probably still containing errors.

_Demon Princess Ako: where did you go??????_  
  
_ Me: I have no idea._  
  
_ Me: It's really dark here, what do I do?_  
  
_ RinRin: really dark?_  
  
_ RinRin: cave?_  
  
_ Demon Princess Ako: wait which transport did you touch_  
  
_ Me: What?_  
  
_ RinRin: transports are floating crystals you see around towns_  
  
_ RinRin: what town were you just in? _  
  
_ Me: I don't remember._  
  
_ Me: How do I check that?_  
  
_ Demon Princess Ako: can you even_  
  
_ RinRin: i’ve never had to use a function like that, so i don’t know_  
  
_ Me: What am I supposed to do with the tall skeleton?_  
  
_ Demon Princess Ako: skeleton???_  
  
_ Demon Princess Ako: you teleported to a dungeon???_  
  
_ Demon Princess Ako: wait how does she even have access_  
  
_ Demon Princess Ako: isnt there a level cap or something_  
  
_ RinRin: i think they changed it in the last patch_  
  
_ RinRin: or they forgot about it when they moved systems_  
  
_ Me: It's getting closer, what do I do?_  
  
_ Demon Princess Ako: RUN!!!!!!_  
  
_ Me: Where?_  
  
_ Demon Princess Ako: anywhere!_  
  
_ Demon Princess Ako: rinrin and i know where you are_  
  
_ Demon Princess Ako: just don't die_  
  
_ Me: What happens if I die?_  
  
_ Demon Princess Ako: why are you still in chat???_  
  
_ Demon Princess Ako: RUNNNN!!!!!!_  


**-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-**

  
When Yukina opened her eyes, she swore she had somehow died when she gave her mind over to the LiNK because everything around her was white. She felt her face with her hands, only to realize that the machine was no longer there. She looked down at herself and squeaked when she then realized that she was... naked? Except she didn't have... nipples, and her, well... private areas.  
  
Yukina felt the sudden urge to touch herself... Wait, that came out wrong. She slapped herself to bring herself back into focus. Okay, you're in the game now. So what first?   
  
She glanced around and looked to her feet. She wiggled her toes to feel the invisible ground beneath her, and she wondered for a moment if this is what standing over glass is like. She moved her fingers to get used to... using her body? Actually, it didn't feel any different. A part of Yukina believed it would feel different when she was inside of this virtual space, but she really didn't notice any differences.   
  
"Hello?" she called out, only to receive an echo. She was going to call out again when a glowing blue **BEGIN** button appeared out of nowhere in front of her.   
  
_ "Oh, surprises. Yay." _  
  
She touched the blue button with her finger, and when she did, it disappeared, and a room began to rise from the ground all around her. Was this supposed to happen? Is this the game? Because she honestly didn't listen to Lisa those couple days ago, and she is now very confused--though it isn't like the talk Lisa was giving her made much sense anyway.   
  
When the room stopped moving around her, she gave herself a moment to look around in awe. She was now in a fully-furnished bedroom with two sets of double doors, and lavish furnishing. She wiggled her toes again to feel the now-present rug beneath her feet, and marvelled at the firmness of the material. She wondered if she could email the game creators and ask what material the rug was made of so she could maybe get one for her own room (Yukina hated the feel of the cold floor in the morning, as she didn’t wear socks to sleep). That was about all she could get though, as the rest of the furniture appeared to be made for aristocrats and people with a higher status than herself. Sure, her father made good money from the band, but he never waved around his credit card and swiped it wherever he went. Yukina wasn’t sure how much money her father made in comparison to the members of the band, but she thought that if anything, her father was just very humble with his money. She took up after him, of course, and never liked flaunting what she had to others. It just didn’t feel right.   
  
Yukina wasn’t quite sure what to do while in this room, but the doors seemed to lead to other places, and those doors were where she directed her attention to. They were both large, made of a dark wood, and probably heavy as well. She tried the doors on the right, but they were locked--well, at least she thought they were because no matter how much she tugged, she couldn’t get it to budge. With energy exhausted, she turned her attention to the doors on the left. The handle clicked this time, and she pushed open carefully, as she wasn’t sure what was on the other side.   
  
She left the door open a tad, and waited. She wasn’t sure what to wait for, but if the other side of the door was something dangerous, she figured that whatever it was would have jumped at her by now. She peeked her head in slowly, before swinging the door open in full when she realized that it was a massive closet of clothing. The corridor-like closet was lined with apparel from hats to shoes, and even different colored undergarments. One side appeared to be more masculine clothing, while the other had more feminine. Yukina just strolled leisurely down the grand aisle, simply admiring all the clothing that were hanging from the racks, or displayed on wooden stands.  
  
Yukina stopped when she saw a hat sitting on a shelf. It was at the center of many, many others, but for some reason, this hat attracted her. It didn't seem very outstanding, really, but the violet ribbons, cerulean rose, and two white feathers--with one dipped in a similar shade of blue, and the other a pastel pink--that decorated the otherwise plain hat sparked interest in Yukina's golden eyes. From the moment she laid her eyes on it, she couldn't turn away, and when she brought it into her hands, it just felt right.  
  
She found a mirror placed conveniently between two shelves, and put the hat on after fixing her hair up just a bit. Yukina was satisfied with the hat, and when she gave a small smile, a pop-up appeared before her in the shape of a soft-cornered, white box.  
  
**<Would you like to equip《The Songstress》?>**  
  
There was a red oval shaped **<No>** on one side, and a blue oval shaped **<Yes>** on the other, just below the question that Yukina did not quite understand. She noticed a small question mark in a circle at the top right corner of the box, and tapped it in the hopes of getting answers.  
  
Yukina then opened up the game's Help Page, which listed its own FAQs page, with many main topics available to choose from. Yukina ended up reading each and every topic, but saw nothing about**《The Songstress》**or a hat. She noticed the word "equip" in one of the topics though, and decided to read the article on that.   
  
Under it is what Yukina believes she was looking for. Each article of apparel belongs to a specific set which is made uniquely by the game creators. The hat she found was part of the set called**《The Songstress》**, apparently, and though she wasn't much of one herself, Yukina found the similarity between it and her father quite interesting. She was also interested in how a person with such an occupation would belong to a game that Lisa mentioned involves fighting. She also didn't feel like walking through this corridor, and found it was easiest to allow the game to choose her outfit for her.  
  
She chose **<Yes>** in the white box, and when she did, the pop-up disappeared, and her body began glowing a soft white. The white began to take shape around her previously naked form, and when the glow disappeared, Yukina found herself fully dressed in what she can only assume is**《The Songstress》**apparel set.  
  
Yukina glanced at herself up and down and found the outfit nice, but slightly too exposed. The black bra she now had poked through the top of the purple cloth that was tied around her chest, and she found herself pulling the flaps of the short-sleeved crop blazer to try and cover herself a tad. The black netting that covered the rest of her chest gave her no comfort, and neither did her exposed stomach. She found an attachment to the long, purple skirt though, and didn't at all mind the gold and silver trinkets that decorated her outfit.  
  
Soon, another pop-up appeared:  
  
**<Would you like to equip**《Bard》**as your class?>**   
  
Yukina briefly remembers classes as the kind of job or role that you want in the game. She then remembers that bards, historically, were mostly poets, though some could in fact be labelled as something of a proper or professional composer. It was related to the name of the set she now adorned, and the role that it belonged to intrigued Yukina even more. A professional composer in a game involving fighting? What would that be like? She wasn't much of a violent person either, so Yukina decided that this would be a good role for her.  
  
She chose **<Yes>**, and when she did, a golden lyre appeared before her. It was floating in midair, just begging Yukina to grab ahold of it. She wondered for a moment how it was doing so, but she then told herself that this was a game. Practically anything could happen, even floating musical instruments. She held it carefully, getting used to the feel and weight of the gold-framed instrument, and had the sudden urge to strum its strings. Before she could though, another pop-up appeared in front of her:   
  
**<Would you like to complete character customization?>**   
  
Yukina nodded to herself and tapped **<Yes>**. When she did, the doors she walked through opened in full. A larger, transparent pop-up appeared by the door, and said **<Please exit character customization>**. She followed the pop-up out, and when she reentered the furnished bedroom, the doors she entered through closed. She heard it lock behind her, and then heard the double doors on the right unlock. It was time to see what was in the other double doors.   
  
Yukina honestly expected another large corridor, but instead, she was met with a smaller room that appeared to be a study. There were bookshelves along the walls, and a desk with a single paper and quill on it. She moved towards the paper, only to find it blank. Curious, she pulled the chair from under the desk and sat in it before setting her lyre down next to her.  
  
When she did though, words began bleeding onto the blank page, and Yukina stared in wonder as the words fell into place one by one. It appeared to Yukina like an application one filled out for something official, and though it seemed a bit extensive, Yukina found it interesting as a part of the game.   
  
The page asked for her name, gender, birthday, and email, which she listed quickly as she has done in the past. The one part she was stuck on was the question of her Adventurer's Name. She wasn't quite sure what to put, and wondered if she should put her real name or not.   
  
**<Please tell us your Adventurer's name>**  
  
Is what it said, with an empty line next to it. She twirled the quill back and forth, unsure of what to write down. Was she supposed to put a fake name? Use her real name? Would do people normally use when playing games? Can she change her name later? Well, with that in mind, Yukina decided to go with what's easiest. Maybe she could change her name later, and if not, what's the harm?  
  
**<So your name is《Yukina》?>**   
  
She selected **<Yes>**, and when she did, the paper suddenly floated from under her hand, and disappeared into glowing, ice-blue particles. In its place, a door materialized, and on it, another pop-up:   
  
**<Would you like to begin your adventure in《Neo Fantasy Online》?>**  
  
So that was what this game was called... Throughout this process, Yukina wondered how she never got to figure out what the name of this game was. Maybe she just didn't pay _ any _ attention at all, or maybe the game didn't say anything till now. But she figures people would know what games they downloaded into their consoles, so maybe the game didn't have to explicitly state what it was called right off the bat. Or maybe it did? Yukina didn't know.  
  
She clicked **<Yes>**, as there was no logical reason to click **<No>**, other than maybe for giggles to see what the game would prompt in response. When she did, the door began to open, filling Yukina's eyes with a bright white light. She would be lying if Yukina said she wasn't excited about what was on the other side, and she tried to open her eyes as quickly as she could in order to see what this virtual world had to offer.  


**-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-**

  
Run, okay. That was the only advice Ako had given her, so that was what Yukina was going to do. She remembers vaguely Lisa once telling her about a light novel she read about the characters dying in real life if they died in the game they were in, and Yukina crossed her fingers that this wasn't one of those situations.   
  
It was dark down in this cave, and Yukina wasn't sure if her character was capable of making a light of some sort, and she didn't bother stopping to find out. The skeleton wasn't exactly running towards her, but it had a pair of really long legs that somehow allowed it to catch up with her no matter how many corners she turned and tunnels she crawled through.  
  
She was doing well. She didn't know how long she had been doing this, or how successful she was really doing it, but the skeleton hadn't caught up to her yet, and Yukina counted that as a success.   
  
That was until she ran into a dead end. All the paths and tunnels she took brought her to an opening that Yukina thought she could use to get away. But instead, she was brought to the edge of a cliff, with a raging ocean crashing against jagged rocks below her. Would her character die if she jumped? She didn't know, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to find out.   
  
The low growl of the skeleton came from inside the cave, and Yukina turned to see the animated body stumble towards her with purpose. She gripped her lyre in her hands and wondered what would happen if she strummed the strings. She didn't get to ask Ako and Rinko about it much, but she did remember them telling her that she has a support role. That didn't seem like much of an attacker, so Yukina wasn't confident she could do anything to defeat the monster.   
  
She had her fingers ready anyway. At least Yukina could say she tried right? The skeleton looked ready to swipe at her with its raised arm, but then a bang resounded in the cave. Red waves rippled around them, and the skeleton soon turned its attention to whatever it was that was producing these ripples.   
  
"Over here, you beanpole!" an unknown voice called out.   
  
"That's not nice, Hikasa-nee! Don't insult him just because he's skinny!" a voice Yukina recognized as Ako's responded before a pink sprite appeared from the purplette's body. "Go, Kuri, **<Engulf>**!" the pink sprite rushed forward and went into the skeleton, coating it in a pink fog. The fog then morphed into flames that twisted violently around the skeleton, causing it to screech in what appeared to be pain.   
  
"Hikasa, you're up!" a voice Yukina then recognized as Rinko's called out. The third person rushed forward and banged their shield with a sword, causing yellow ripples to wrap around the skeleton. Its previous thrashing then stopped, and though it appeared to be trying to move, it seemed unable to.   
  
"Rinko!" they called.   
  
"Already on it!" Yukina looked over to the younger girl to see a red magic circle appear below her as she appeared to be reciting a ritual or spell. The mysterious third person than ran up to her, and Yukina acknowledged that this person was most likely a girl.   
  
"What are you still standing here for? Come on!" the girl grabbed her wrist and ran around the skeleton to where Ako and Rinko were. "Stay here." she said before stepping before the group in a defensive position. She then drew a blue magic circle before her with her shield-held hand and swiped at it, causing it to erupt into particles that then began to surround Yukina and her two other companions.  
  
A small icon appeared on the right side of her view, and it showed an image of a shield with an upward arrow. So her defense went up? Is this what a support skill was like? Could she do something like that?   
  
She hovered her fingers above the strings of her lyre, and watched as skills appeared in her view. **<Siren's Song>**? **<Pizzicato Strike>**? **<Lullaby>**? They were so random to her, and she didn’t bother reading them before now. Plus, since she was in the middle of battle, the skill descriptions were no longer present. She remembers plucking a string once and dealing damage to a monster before in a random field. What did she do?   
  
"Um, **<Attack>**?" the lyre emitted a red glow before only the strings remained red. "Here goes nothing..." Yukina plucked one of the red strings, firing a red arrow-like projectile at the unmoving skeleton. She watched it land, and even saw the health bar above the skeleton turn red, meaning, she remembers, that it had taken damage. But from what she could see, no damage had been done.   
  
"Nice try, Yukina-san." Rinko acknowledged with a nod. "But leave it to us, okay?" she said. Yukina recognized the younger girl as a rather shy person who was never assertive in her approaches to anything, but she was definitely different here in the game--there was not a single stutter in her speech.   
  
"Get ready, Ako." the third person called out.  
  
"You're acting first, you should be the one ready." she said back with a grin.   
  
"I always am."   
  
For the first time since this started, Yukina noticed an icon with a lightning bolt under the skeleton’s health bar. As Ako and the mysterious girl finished their exchange, the lightning bolt icon disappeared, and the skeleton was once again in motion with a menacing roar that shook the cavern.   
  
The mysterious girl banged her shield once more to emit red waves, and the skeleton brought up and down a large, heavy hand right on top of her, causing the cave to shake and rumble. Dirt and rocks surrounded the area of impact, impeding Yukina's view of everything around her. Yukina gasped and realized then that she was holding a breath in fear. She once more was holding her breath, afraid of what had happened to the other girl.   
  
"Kuri, **<Engulf>**!" Yukina heard Ako's voice call out from the other side of the cloud of smoke. Yukina caught sight of the pink sprite once again rushing forward towards the skeleton, and when it passed through it, a fire icon appeared, and the skeleton roared in agony as fire twisted around the skeleton. Its health bar turned red multiple times in a row, taking chunks of health from the skeleton.   
  
As the smoke began to clear, Yukina noticed a green glow from under the skeleton's hand, and noted the fact that the skeleton couldn't take its hand up from the ground. It struggled though, and Yukina brought her lyre up in fear of a stalactite falling from the ceiling on top of her.   
  
"Go, Rin-rin!" Ako yelled out.  
  
"**<Burst>**." is what Yukina heard Rinko say from somewhere beside her. From the, now pink, magic circle she had created, a large blue flame emerged and headed straight for the skeleton. The heat felt so real, and Yukina feared that if she stood too close to it, the flames would burn the virtual skin right off of her body.  
  
When the attack landed, the green glow disappeared, and the skeleton pulled back in pain. The mysterious girl emerged from the rumble, obviously scratched up, but seeming fine otherwise. She began running to one side of the cave, and Yukina felt hands grab her towards the other side.   
  
Yukina then watched from a distance as the girl drew a green magic circle and swiped, causing the expelled green particles to surround her. Rinko then wrote several blue and orange, indecipherable characters in the air, and Yukina watched as icon after icon appeared on the right side of her screen. A shield with an upward arrow, defense? A shield that had a star on it with an upward arrow, magic defense? And a heart that had a plus on it with an upward arrow, health?   
  
"Aoi, **<Wide Guard>**." Ako said, and a blue sprite appeared. It floated in front of them before bursting into blue particles and forming a nearly transparent wall between them and the skeleton, which in all this time, was losing large chunks of health and roaring in pain.  
  
"Brace for impact, Yukina-san." was what Yukina last heard. The skeleton lost all of its health, and when it did, it exploded, sending bellows of smoke and fire around it, and towards them. Most of it, she noticed, wasn't hitting them at all though, and was attracted towards the girl at the other side of the cave. The impact of the explosion still affected them though, and Yukina had to close her eyes to protect them from the whipping winds and black fumes.   
  
Before she knew it, the atmosphere was calm again, and Yukina opened her eyes to see a large hole where the skeleton was, a clear sign that something large had just exploded here. Over on the other side, Yukina saw that the other girl was slightly more scratched up than earlier, but looked otherwise fine. Yukina looked at the other girl's health bar, and saw that some was gone, but she didn’t seem fazed.   
  
"It's over... isn't it?" Rinko said with a laugh. Yukina noticed the hesitation had returned.   
  
"I guess so? Who knew such a moderate boss would take so much out of us." Ako responded.   
  
"Well this is virtual reality... Normally we wouldn't feel a thing... so I guess this will be physically taxing now."   
  
"You have a point."   
  
Yukina listened to their back and forth until the words **LEVEL UP** appeared in front of her. The words disappeared before another **LEVEL UP** appeared. This happened four more times before it stopped, and Yukina saw that her experience bar was almost full again. This monster gave her almost seven whole levels, and now Yukina was at level seven. A whole page of information then popped-up, and Yukina didn't know what to look at first.  
  
That must be overwhelming for a beginner, huh? All those stat changes, and new skills and abilities." Yukina heard the mysterious voice say. She looked up to see the other girl standing with the rest of them now, and couldn't help but stare at her delicate features and long, teal-colored hair.  
  
"Forget that, Hikasa-nee, where have you been?" Ako exclaimed before launching herself at the other girl and wrapping her arms around the armored girl.  
  
"Sorry, Ako, and you too, Rinko. I have just been... busy lately, is all." she said sheepishly.   
  
"So busy... you couldn't even message us?" Rinko said solemnly. "We were worried..." the other girl's expression softened just slightly and she reached out to pat the ravenette's head.   
  
"I’m sorry. I didn't really think about how my silence would affect you two."   
  
They spoke amongst themselves, catching up on their lost time, before the girl pointed out that the droppings from the monster were going to despawn soon. Ako yelped before making a break towards the center of the hole to retrieve them, and since they no longer had business in the caverns, they made their way out with little to no trouble.  
  
"Geez, we're really going to need to start from step one with you, Yukina-san, aren't we?" Ako said with a laugh. Rinko smiled shyly, and appeared to be holding back a laugh.  
  
"Well we all have to start somewhere, right?" the other girl said. "Oh, my name is Hikasa, by the way." she stuck a hand out towards Yukina to shake. "It’s a pleasure to meet you." Yukina took the hand gratefully and shook it firmly.   
  
"It's nice to meet you too." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh I don’t know if Ako’s characterization is accurate, but I am forever trapped in Idol Hell, and I always compared Ako and Yoshi- Yohane, so I may have thrown in a bit of Yosh- Yohane here. Oops. 
> 
> I'm creating and editing as I go, including the skin and HTML, so there may be errors or changes every now and then. I'm also planning on fixing the summary, but I want to make sure I have a solid direction first. The game itself is also piecing together pretty nicely, so hopefully it can expand smoothly as Yukina learns more about NFO, and you learn about this little AU. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick announcement before you start this chapter! As I stated last chapter, I am designing the game as I go along, and in between publishing chapter 2 and writing chapter 3, I added new things and changed some stuff. Not much is different from what you’ve been exposed to though, so that’s good. The only real change from last chapter is that I changed Ako’s second sprite. If you’d like, just read through the dungeon scene one more time, or even just the part after Rinko lands her attack. That’s all I changed… And I guess some font design and whatnot, but that stuff is trivial to the story itself. 
> 
> This will be an information heavy chapter as the girls learn a bit about one another, and Yukina learns more about the gaming world. The latter will probably be tedious to those of you who are already familiar with RPGs, but I thought it was kind of cute to see Yukina work through all the things I remember teaching a friend in the past. 
> 
> I read through this several times to make sure I got everything, but I guarantee that there is at least one typo or grammatical error in here somewhere, so I apologize in advance. 
> 
> Finally, it is Hikasa's color. I'm sure you all can figure out who it is, and with that in mind, how is her color? It kind of looks too blue, but it's kind of okay? I don't know. What do you think? 
> 
> With all that out of the way, happy reading!

Laughter rang in the air, and Yukina couldn’t help but bend her head slightly forward to attempt to hide from questioning gazes. Lisa had been cackling up a storm after Ako enthusiastically retold her perspective of Yukina’s time in the game, and though it wasn’t exactly wrong, Yukina couldn’t help but feel offended. Rinko stayed quiet most of the meeting--though she was always quiet when they met on the weekends, and Yukina would have never known that the girl could talk without stuttering if it weren’t for that experience in the game--but Yukina could see her lips curve up whenever Lisa and Ako would burst out laughing.  
  
“Oh, Yukina… I know you’ve never played video games before, but I didn’t think you were this bad!” Lisa remarked before being thrown in another fit of laughter.  
  
“If you had logged on when you told me to, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place.” Yukina snapped back, and Lisa froze.  
  
“Oh, uh-”  
  
“Yeah, come to think of it, where were you, Lisa-nee?” Ako then turned from teasing Yukina to teasing the next target.  
  
“I-it’s okay, girls! I have a perfectly good explanation for my absence ☆” the other three remained expectant as the brunette appeared to be contemplating exactly what to tell them. Yukina sighed before leaning back in her chair.  
  
“You forgot didn’t you?” Yukina said. It wasn’t out of disappointment or spite, but simply a statement. Yukina couldn’t remember how often Lisa forgot things that were out of her routine.  
  
“Haha…” Lisa smiled sheepishly before slapping her hands together in prayer. “I apologize! Please forgive me!” Yukina could only shake her head and smile at her best friend’s habits.  
  
“Yeah, okay. You’re forgiven.” Lisa then launched her whole body at Yukina to hug her, screaming thank yous in her ear again and again. The chair then began to tip back, and the two of them, along with Rinko’s effort, managed to keep Yukina from slamming the back of her head against the concrete. “You are such a handful…” and Lisa just laughed.  
  


**-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-**  
  


“So who’s the mystery girl~♩” Lisa asked. After they recovered from the mini-accident, Rinko mentioned quietly that they were getting a lot of stares. They all then agreed to move their meeting to a place a little more private, and decided to move to Lisa’s house.  
  
Yukina wondered for a moment if they would need to do this more often. When they first started meeting up, they were still rather shy around one another and were just starting to talk. Lisa and Ako were friends from the dance club they’re in, and Ako and Rinko became friends due to their similar interest in Neo Fantasy Online some time ago in junior high. The first few meetings were simply to establish proper relationships were one another, and Yukina was happy that she didn’t have to start any conversations. Lisa and Ako were talkative enough that she and Rinko didn’t have to do anything but nod along and answer whatever questions were currently on the table.  
  
Now that they were more or less friends, they were even louder than before, and Yukina wasn’t sure she would be confident enough to sit in a public space while they talk animatedly about a video game. She believes that Rinko feels the same way, so she hopes that if it comes down to it, the two of them will be able to convince Lisa and Ako to have their meetings in more private places from now on.  
  
“That’s Hikasa-nee! She was in a party with Rin-rin and me back when NFO was still a newer game on the PC!” Yukina sighs and reminds herself to write down all these acronyms so that she could remember what they all stood for. “She’s a super skilled tank player, and was part of what used to be the top ranking guild when NFO had war events!” Ako rambled enthusiastically.  
  
“Used to be?”  
  
“Hikasa-nee and a few others of that guild’s members are really what held it all together. So when Hikasa-nee left, the others started doing so too, and eventually, the guild fell from its ranks and kind of just disappeared.” Ako said. “They were a huge part of the game’s history though, and they will always be remembered by PC players!”  
  
“So how did you end up meeting her?” Yukina pitched.  
  
“Well kind of how Yukina-san got in a little… trouble…” Rinko started, but paused when Lisa snickered into her hand.  
  
“Sorry, continue ☆” she then said while straightening herself out.  
  
“Ako and I were just starting out when we first met Hikasa-san.”  
  
“When was that? About three years ago?”  
  
“I think it was… a little less than… three years.” Rinko contemplated quietly before nodding to herself. “Yes, about three years ago…” Yukina swore that if she hadn’t been staring at the ravenette, she wouldn’t have heard that last bit.  
  
“So three years ago, hm~?” Lisa jumped in. “Were you two just starting out?”  
  
“Yup!” Ako shouted, taking over the conversation. “Rin-rin introduced me to the game, and we both got into it around the same time.”  
  
“We were both beginners… We walked into the wrong field… at the wrong time.” Rinko said while fidgeting. “Hikasa-san stepped in, and-”  
  
“And went _shing_! _Shing_! And _bam_!” Ako showed off animatedly by using her phone as a sword, and holding her other arm up like it was a shield. “A few slashes and one slam of her shield, and they were gone! Just like that!” Ako then plopped down onto the cushion she had been sitting on, and sighed almost dreamily. “Hikasa-nee is so cool…”  
  
“Hm… is she cooler than you~?” Lisa teased. Ako’s face reddened and she turned away to avoid eye contact with anyone.  
  
“O-of course not! A-after all, it is _I_, Demon Princess Ako, who rose from the depths of the abyss! A-and, um, exist outside the realm of… existence! I am the one and only true fallen angel! Fufufu~!” Yukina was stunned at the sudden speech, and while Lisa continued teasing the youngest of the group, Yukina noticed an affectionate smile on Rinko’s face. She figured that this is just something they do together.  
  
“So what happened after?” Yukina turned to Rinko to get the rest of the story as Ako and Lisa were still going back and forth about whatever it was that Ako just said.  
  
“Well… Hikasa-san would party-up with us… whenever she wasn’t… involved with the guild. She helped us grow… as players… and gave us a lot of advice on quests and drops. And then… she just disappeared one day.” Yukina wasn’t sure if the sudden change was in sync to the sudden silence from Ako and Lisa, but as if on cue, the atmosphere went grim as the conversation moved to the sudden absence of Ako and Rinko’s in-game friend.  
  
“Did you look for her at all?” Lisa asked quietly.  
  
“We didn’t… know anything about her--well, nothing personal. Anything… and everything we learned about her could’ve applied to… anyone, really.” Rinko replied with a shake of her head.  
  
“But we did try to ask around for the first few months.” Ako added. “Then when I told my parents, they said to stop looking for a stranger, so we did. Haha, my mom also banned me from gaming for a month because I was interacting with someone I didn’t know.”  
  
“Well you were like twelve right~? Understandable.” Lisa said.  
  
“Yeah, but Hikasa-nee isn’t some weird pervert trying to kidnap me!” Ako retaliated as if Lisa was the one who banned her back then. The two were engaged in another argument about who was right or wrong in the situation, and Yukina turned to Rinko again to continue the conversation. She met Rinko’s gaze this time, and the two shared a laugh at how this has already become a habit.  
  
“So you just stopped after that?”  
  
“For the most part… yes. About… one year after that, we heard about someone with a similar description… being online for a very long time. When we went to… investigate, they were gone. Nobody got a name… because they were challenging bosses and dungeons over and over again on their own… No one dared approach them.”  
  
“Anything after that?”  
  
“We managed to keep in touch with… one of Hikasa-san’s old guild members. They mentioned… that a friend of theirs noticed someone under the name “Hikasa” playing VR games. That was how Ako-chan and I… got into VR. So that we could… investigate.”  
  
“Did you ever find that person?” Rinko shook her head, and Yukina sighed as if she had been in the effort of looking for this elusive Hikasa as well.  
  
“We were always… online at the wrong times, or we weren’t allowed… to buy the game that the “Hikasa” person was playing.” Rinko then brightened up. “And in the middle of searching… we heard that NFO was moving to VR as well. We decided… that we should get the VR version to see… if we could run into her again. And then… we did.” Rinko finished with a smile.  
  
“So you finally found her.” Yukina said, mirroring Rinko’s smile.  
  
“Mhm… After almost three years… we finally got to meet her again.”  
  
“Hey Yukina~,” Lisa’s voice broke in. “Didn’t that Hisayo person also start acting weird almost three years ago?”  
  
“Um, I think so.”  
  
“Whoa, that’s such a weird coincidence, huh~?”  
  
“Who’s Hisayo?” Rinko asked.  
  
“Hisayo is only the coolest guitarist ever!” Ako yelled. “She’s a part of the coolest band, Roselia, which is made by Minato Yuuki, and he writes the coolest music for them to perform! And-” Ako then abruptly stops before turning to Yukina. Here it comes- “Wait… are you-”  
  
_ “Oh dear…”_  
  
Within seconds, their meeting turned into a fan meeting, and Ako was running around the room firing questions at Yukina that she didn’t have the time to answer because they were coming at her so quickly. Rinko managed to get Ako to calm down and at least sit, while Lisa managed to fend off the lightning-fast questions that Ako had. The perks of having a childhood friend who knew almost everything about you.  
  
“So what happened to… Hisayo… san?” Rinko asked.  
  
“I have no idea…” Yukina answered honestly. “My father won’t say a thing to me or the media, and nobody but probably him and the rest of the band know what happened to her.”  
  
“So she also disappeared?”  
  
“No, it’s just that a lot of fans have pointed out that she seems like a completely different person, and my father became very depressed after something that happened to her about three years ago during one of their tours. Then he started drinking obsessively a year later when he released a new album, and even though it was received well, he didn’t seem to like it.”  
  
“Because… fans said she seemed different?” Rinko tried to figure out.  
  
“I guess?”  
  
“Well what do you think, Ako~?” Lisa turned to the youngest. “What did you think of that album?”  
  
“I thought it was super cool like always! I will admit that the sound is slightly different, but I think the newer sound adds some cool dynamics to the music overall.”  
  
“Would you say that you prefer new Hisayo, or old Hisayo?” Yukina asked.  
  
“Hm… that’s a tough one. Old Hisayo was the one I fell in love with, but I gotta say that new Hisayo has a boldness that old Hisayo didn’t have, so I think new Hisayo has a little bit of an edge.”  
  
Yukina lay in her bed that night thinking about what Ako said. Is that the reason her father wasn’t satisfied with the music? Because Hisayo didn’t have the same sound he started with? But if that was the case, couldn’t he tell Hisayo to change her style back, or replace her with someone else? Yukina remembers one of the band members being kicked out once because they wouldn’t perform her father’s music properly, and the fanbase was quite supportive of the decision. Maybe it was because Hisayo was so popular that her father doesn’t have it in him to get rid of her? Yukina knows that her father loves music, but maybe money is involved?  
  
Yukina shook her head fervently before drawing her blanket to her chin.  
  
No, her father would never do something for the money. She never knew him to be that kind of person, so there is no way that he would be settling for Hisayo performing differently if it was for the money. But if not for that, then what? What did Hisayo have to offer that made her so irreplaceable? What about Hisayo would drive her father into this state of depression? Yukina tried going through everything Ako said about the guitarist, but nothing popped out to Yukina. Of course, how could Yukina expect a fan to know something about her father that she didn’t? She lived with the man, and even she has been left in the dark.  
  
Yukina just wished that she could do something about the situation. But no matter what she thought of, there was nothing that came to mind.  
  


**-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-**  
  


“**<Sound Wave>**!” Yukina said quickly while stumbling backwards. She strummed the strings on her lyre while falling to the floor, and breathed a sigh of relief when the hoard of hopping **《Munchkins》**were thrown back, and away from her.  
  
“Come on, Yukina-san! They’re not going to wait for you to get up!” Ako yelled from behind her. Yukina then scrambled to her feet to see the**《Munchkins》** indeed hopping towards her again. She held her fingers over the strings of her lyre again and watched impatiently as her skills opened up for her. She hadn’t yet memorized all of them, and couldn’t activate them as quickly as Hikasa or Ako could, but she was getting better at it--at least, she thinks she is.  
  
When she found her basic attack skill, she mentally selected it, and her lyre glowed red. Yukina looked up, finally ready to aim at her targets, but yelped and fell back again when a**《Munchkins》** jumped at her face. Just before it got to her though, Hikasa swept in from the side and slapped it away with her shield hand. Hikasa then banged her shield, and red waved were emitted that attracted the**《Munchkins》**to her.  
  
“Hey, Hikasa-nee! That’s not fair!” Ako yelled again.  
  
“Well she_ is _a support.” Hikasa then turned to the silverette with a bit of a smile playing on her lips. “Alright, since I’m in a bit of a bind,” she says while waving her arms around while they are being chewed on by the**《Munchkins》**. “You have to support me and get me out of this.” Yukina could clearly see that Hikasa’s health regenerated much faster than the**《Munchkins》** could do damage, so she wasn’t in any real danger. But the mere sight of the other girl surrounded by little creatures terrified Yukina, so she stood and readied her lyre once more for an attack.  
  
“Okay, **<Attack>**...” she murmured to herself. Her offensive abilities then appeared, and she selected the only one she had that wasn’t her default. “**<Pizzicato Strike>**...” the strings of her lyre turned red, and when she plucked one of them, a beam of light shot at one of the**《Munchkins》**, and it burst into colorless shards of virtual particles. She had eight remaining shots to fire, and when she did, nearly all of the**《Munchkins》**were gone. Yukina noticed that the blue bar under her health bar had gone down a bit, and connected it to the use of her offensive skill. Since there were only a few **《Munchkins》** left, she decided to use her default attack. She now had to hit each of the **《Munchkins》** with two attacks, but it was still effective.  
  
“This is so easy since Yukina-san is crazily overleveled in comparison to her experience.” Ako said with a laugh. Rinko smiled shyly, and Yukina wondered for a moment of her humongous hat served as a curtain for the girl at times. Ako, on the other hand, had her face in full view, and her boisterous laughter reflected that openness.  
  
“Now if only she didn’t stumble so much ♩” Lisa said, and the two entertained themselves as Hikasa made her way back to the group after using **<Deter>** to drive the **《Munchkins》** away for a little while.  
  
“Did the **《Munchkins》** hurt?” Rinko asked when Hikasa stood near enough for her to use a minor healing spell that restored the rest of the taller girl’s health almost instantly (Yukina made sure to remember to ask why Hikasa’s health regenerated faster when under attack). Yukina was in awe of such high leveled skills, and wondered how long it would take her to get to their level.  
  
“Kind of? I think I read an article about the game’s pain level being 50% of what would actually be felt, and since I’m a lot higher leveled than the **《Munchkins》** , I don’t think it hurt as much as it would for someone at, say, Yukina-san’s level. It almost felt like little pinches if I had to describe it.” Hikasa said thoughtfully.  
  
“Can I ask something?” Yukina asked.  
  
“Yes?” Hikasa and Rinko both turned to her to give her their full attention, and Yukina was slightly overwhelmed.  
  
“What’s this blue bar? I know the green one is for health, but what about the other one?”  
  
“That’s for mana.” Hikasa said. “It’s basically the amount of magic power you have, and if you look at your skills, you can see that each of them requires a certain amount of mana to be used.” Yukina opened her menu to glance through her skills, and lo and behold, they each had a little “MN” with a number next to it, telling Yukina how much mana each skill used.  
  
“Does it come back by itself?”  
  
“Like regen?” Yukina paused for a moment before nodding. “Yes. Just like health, your mana will regen automatically, and at different rates, depending on your level, class, and the number of SP you apply to the Regeneration stat.” Hikasa must have noticed the confusion on her face because she held a hand up in apology. “Stat points--you get them as you level up and can apply them to your base stats depending on what you want to prioritize.” Yukina tapped on her profile to see a small exclamation point next to her STATS tab. She opened it to see that she had twenty-one stat points that haven’t been used yet. She’d have to do something about those soon.  
  
“What if it comes back too slowly? The mana.”  
  
“Then you have players like Lisa,” Hikasa gestured to the healer of their party. “Who have skills that can replenish things like health and mana, at the cost of their own mana.”  
  
“Then who supplies them with mana?”  
  
“Classes like **<Healer>** usually have faster mana replenishing rates. For example, more magic-based classes like **<Healer>**, ** <Bard>**, and **<Wizard>** have more mana than more physical-based classes like **<Knight> ** and ** <Tank>**, and also replenish mana faster. On the other hand, us more physical-based classes have more health, and regen faster than magic-based classes. And since a **<Healer>** doesn’t have to rely on or use attacks like most other classes, providing for others is all they really need to do, so it evens out.”  
  
“But can’t you also use skills that require mana?”  
  
“Yes, but they are usually less mana-costly, and aren’t as powerful. So my **<Blaze>** will do much less damage than Ako’s ** <Engulf>**, or Rinko’s ** <Burn>**. You either have one or the other when it comes to health and mana. Some people get really smart and use their SP to balance out their stats, like Rinko has,” she ducked down in response to that, shying away from the attention. “Or you can use your SP and focus on what your class is generally already good at, or has the base stats for, like most people. It all depends on your play style, and sometimes experience.” Yukina nodded and took a moment to absorb everything. She has only logged onto this game a handful of times, and she already had to remember all this information. Who knew games could get this complicated, and she is very sure that she is only touching upon the basics.  
  
“Okay… Oh, and what about your health?”  
  
“What about it?”  
  
“Well I noticed that you… regened more health when those**《Munchkins》** were biting you. Then when they weren’t, your health suddenly barely regened.”  
  
“Th-that’s actually because of her… abilities.” Rinko glanced up nervously, while Hikasa had an odd smile on her face. “Hikasa-san has an ability called **<Adrenaline Rush>**, which is unique to the **<Tank>** class, and activates while she is being actively attacked for a certain period of time, which means that additional status affects like burns and poison will not activate the ability. There is also quite a long cooldown period, and, if you notice, will be why Hikasa-san always rushes into the middle of battle, so that her ability won’t deactivate. The ability causes her to regenerate health much faster than she normally does, and the drawback is that during the cooldown period, her health will regen much slower than she normally does… Statistically, anyway. Because in reality, Hikasa-san will only need to regenerate health while in battle, and when she isn’t in battle, she can simply restore her health with **《Potions》**, or get healed by an ally. So her natural rate of regenerating is almost never active, because normally, she will only really lose a massive amount of health after being bombarded by many attacks for a sustained period of time. By then, her ability will activate, and her regen will spike. When the fight is over, her ability will go into cooldown, and as her health will now take forever, I, for example, can use **<Bless>** to regen the rest of her health…” Rinko finished while growing quiet at the end. Yukina was completely stunned at the quiet girl’s speech. Who knew she could talk this much? “The creators must have realized this, and added in some mobs and bosses that have slow attacks that are timed just outside of the ability’s activation requirement. And-”  
  
“You know, Rinko,” Hikasa interrupted. “I really appreciate this really detailed report on my ability, but I think Yukina-san needs a bit of a break. This is probably a lot to digest.” the ravenette turned red, and immediately gave an apology laced with stutters.  
  
“Ah, no worries. It was actually very interesting to learn about Hikasa-san’s ability. I had no idea there was this much depth in games.”  
  
“See, this is why it was good for you to join us in this experience! ☆” Yukina heard Lisa say. Lisa and Ako must have finished their conversation, or overheard their own and came to join them. “At least now you have a hobby rather than wasting away in your room listening to music all by yourself ♩”  
  
“Oh, what music do you listen to, Yukina-san?” Ako asked excitedly. “You _must_ listen to Roselia, right? I mean, your own dad owns the band!”  
  
“Wait, you’re… Yukina, as in _Minato_ Yukina?” Hikasa asked incredulously.  
  
“Um, yes.” something came over Hikasa’s face, but Yukina pushed it aside and went back to Ako so that the younger girl wouldn’t bombard her with more questions too quickly. “Um, I don’t usually listen to my father’s band. Especially lately since it’s just not the same, the guitar in particular.”  
  
“Right?” Ako exclaimed while jumping up and down, ready to talk more about one of her favorite bands.  
  
“Yeah, I gave some of their older and newer songs another listen, and you were right. There is some difference in the sound. But I do have to disagree with your preference.” Yukina noticed from the corner of her eye that Hikasa’s formally lost expression had interest again. “I personally prefer the older sound of the guitar. Something about it seems more genuine, and even though the newer sound does offer a bit more dynamic, I quite like the older sound. It just felt more… raw? To me? I don’t know how to describe it.” Yukina could feel eyes staring at her, and she turned to unreadable green orbs, only for them to avert their previously solid gaze.  
  
“Um, I’m going to log off for now, everyone.” Hikasa then announced.  
  
“Aw, really? It’s still pretty early though.” Ako whined.  
  
“Did something come up today?” Rinko asked.  
  
“Yeah… Something, I guess.” her eyes still wouldn’t meet anyone’s, and Yukina wondered if it was something she said.  
  
“Then we’ll see you around, right girls~?” Lisa said, trying to keep the atmosphere up. “Let’s meet up again tomorrow? We can go over the details later ☆” she waved off.  
  
“Yeah, I’ll see you all tomorrow, then.” Hikasa said. She gave a small smile before quickly logging out.  
  
With Hikasa now offline, they all continued with smaller tasks, which they quickly grew tired of. They agreed to pick it up again tomorrow, so that Yukina and Lisa could gain some more levels, and the five of them could go on more difficult quests together as a whole party.  
  
Before Yukina turned in for the night, she checked her phone one last time, only to see a message from Hikasa through the NFO messaging app. Yukina thought it was cool that she could see the status of her Friends, and even contact them even if they weren’t hooked up to the LiNK. She remembers Rinko saying that this is one of the perks of moving from PC, because the messaging app was already in use, whereas most VR-only games don’t have this kind of app in place.  
  
_Hikasa Hey, this might be kind of weird, but I just wanted to ask you again about your interest in Roselia_  
  
_Hikasa Is it true that you really enjoy the older sound of the guitar versus the newer sound?_  
  
Was this what was bothering Hikasa during those last few moments? Yukina wasn’t sure why, but maybe because of Ako’s preference for the newer sound, and with her preference for the older sound, Hikasa was able to find someone with the same interests as her, and is currently taking advantage of that.  
  
_Me Yes, actually. I do in fact find the older sound to be much more to my liking than the newer sound._  
  
_Me What about you? Do you also prefer the older sound?_  
  
_Hikasa I don’t really have a preference, I guess_  
  
_Hikasa I just really like seeing fans who still cherish the older sound more_  
  
_Hikasa I guess it has sentimental value_  
  
_Hikasa You know_  
  
_Hikasa Because that was how Roselia first started sounding like_  
  
_Hikasa You know?_  
  
_Me Yes, I know._  
  
_Me Haha, are you… what’s the word?_  
  
_Me Fangirling?_  
  
_Hikasa What? No_  
  
_Hikasa At least, I don’t think I am_  
  
_Hikasa I shouldn’t be_  
  
_Me Haha, no worries._  
  
_Me I guess we all have something that we really like or are passionate about, right?_  
  
It was a while before Yukina got a reply to her last question, but she thought that it was the end of their conversation, and decided to turn in for the night with a smile on her face--she learned a little bit about the mysterious Hikasa, and that made her happy inside. She didn’t quite know why, but the world had its ways of throwing them into loops, and she was willing to take it all as she goes.  
  
_Hikasa Yeah, I guess so_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Headcanons I have that are mentioned here: 
> 
> When first getting into Roselia, I immediately assumed that Ako and Rinko were the same age, so in regards to this AU in particular, Rinko will be a first year alongside Ako. Adding to this, I always saw Rinko as older than Ako, but if I make them the same age, Ako is older than Rinko by about a month, so we’re gonna pretend Ako is still the youngest, mkay? 
> 
> When we were first introduced to Lisa, I imagined her as an airhead who had a mature side (sorta like Tae?? But less “I’m drawing pandas”, and more “Haha… oops?”). Because of this, I often have the image of her forgetting things easily and kind of just laughing before changing the subject as quickly as she can, with Yukina just shaking her head and accepting this flaw as a part of her best friend. Despite this, she can be very attentive, especially when it comes to the people she cares about, and this is where my headcanon connects with canon Lisa. 
> 
> I had a lot of oopsies in the editing of this chapter for some reason, so please excuse (and point out!) any errors that are in here. I tried to go back and fix all of them, but I spent a good portion of an hour fixing it all, and after staring at the very messy HTML that makes up this chapter, my eyes are just seeing letters mix together. So I apologize for any of them! Once I have rested, I will definitely read through it again and sigh everytime I have to open the edit page, lol. 
> 
> Your feedback is always welcomed! It also helps me out quite a bit… You know, like a second pair of eyes. Well, that’s all for now. Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the chapter that I was having a bit of trouble with… I wasn’t sure how I wanted to progress this series, and I’m often afraid of dragging events out, or making events happen too quickly. But since this is going to be a pretty short story, I decided that the pace I’m going is pretty fair. 
> 
> So this was pointed out in a comment, but it seems I didn’t lay down the timeline exactly the way I originally wanted. It’s not wrong, but it’s not specific enough with what I was thinking, and due to that, I have made it a bit confusing. The idea was that the Hisayo incident with Roselia, and the Hikasa incident with Ako and Rinko both occurred about two years, and some amount of months ago. But since they are both approximated from two different perspectives, Yukina and Lisa think of it as “almost three years ago” or “more than two years ago” (which is quoted from the first chapter, and keep in mind that at least a couple months have passed), while Ako and Rinko think of it as “almost three years ago” or “a little less than three years ago”. In retrospect, it’s a bit confusing, so I apologize for that… 
> 
> With that out of the way, happy reading! 

It has been several weeks since Yukina last messaged Hikasa in such length. Every interaction over the NFO messaging app after that was mostly Yukina asking Hikasa about advice for the game. They rarely delved into one another’s personal lives, and since Hikasa never pursued any kind of information about Yukina’s life outside of Neo Fantasy Online, Yukina felt too shy to be the first to start the bridge across, as she was already asking the other girl enough about the game. Yukina thought back to the story that Ako and Rinko told her and Lisa about when they were first getting acquainted to Hikasa. It dawned upon her that their situations were very similar in the fact that they were all beginners when they first met Hikasa.   
  
_ “We didn’t… know anything about her--well, nothing personal,” _ she recalls Rinko saying. They must have felt the way she did now and didn’t want to ask Hikasa anything since they were already asking her so many other things.   
  
Still, despite the gap between them in regards to their lives outside of the game, Yukina could say that they were good friends who relied on one another--at least, in the gaming aspect, they did. Even though Yukina was a higher level now and was getting the hang of her role as a support, she still had a hard time keeping track of everything in her surroundings. One moment she was focusing on the enemies before them, and the next she was rushing to assist one of her party-mates. Then another moment she was focusing on her party-mates, and the next she was trying hard to escape the attack range of an enemy. In the former situation, Hikasa would often intervene and advise her to keep focusing on the others, and in the latter, she would protect Yukina from harm so that she could provide for the others.   
  
It amazed Yukina how well-rounded Hikasa was, and she wondered how one of the slowest classes was able to keep up as the sole  **<Tank>** and melee attacker in their party of five. Maybe it was because Ako and Rinko were able to fend for themselves most of the time (especially Rinko, which is what earned her the player-made title  **<The Solo Wizard>** , which the game creators later gifted her with), but even then, Hikasa had to run between helping out her and Lisa at the backlines, and then assisting Ako and Rinko at the front, and Yukina couldn’t help but clap for an encore (in her mind, of course) whenever she saw Hikasa run to and fro with practiced ease.   
  
Yukina wondered at all if Hikasa was active in real life. Yukina remembers reading an article on virtual reality before, and it stated that even though virtual reality differs from reality in many ways, certain aspects of a person’s real life can be carried over, including physical stamina and familiar body movements. Sure, in games, one can change their name, appearance, and overall physique, but when someone who, for example, practices a specific skill set, they can take the built-in movements of the in-game roles, as well as carry in their own familiar movements.   
  
A study was conducted on a group of players with the same in-game role as a  **<Knight>** , with various differences among levels, weapons, and equipment. The study proved that those who were active in real life, or were familiar in the art of sword wielding, performed much more smoothly in combat than those who weren’t as active, or did not handle a sword in their real life.   
  
Yukina wondered if this could apply to Hikasa because of how well she moved on the field, and that aspect of her just added another layer of mystery on Yukina’s turquoise-haired friend, who she also wondered if she would ever learn more about.   
  


**-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-**  
  


Yukina huffed when the words  **LEVEL UP** popped up in front of her. It was rather convenient that this lined up with Rinko dealing the finishing blow on the current boss they were fighting, as she remembers fighting with the  **LEVEL UP** notification pop up in front of her in the past, and she nearly walked right into the boss because she wasn’t paying attention. She remembers Ako and Lisa laughing breathlessly, before Hikasa yelled at them to get their heads back in the game.   
  
This recent boss wasn’t exactly hard to defeat, but it was very exhausting. It resembled a snake in its appearance and movement, and the latter made it minorly difficult to aim and land an attack. It was also ruthless in its attacks, and she found that everyone besides Hikasa was dodging every other attack. The  **<Tank>** of their party was doing an admirable job of luring the boss to her and taking its repetitive attacks, but it seemed to have a very short attention span, as it only fell under Hikasa’s  **<Provoke>** for a short amount of time. Her skill then had to cool down before she could use it again, and Yukina found out the hard way that Hikasa made her job so much easier since she didn’t necessarily have to juggle three things at once.   
  
“Hey, Rinko, Ako,” Lisa forced out between breaths. “Is there like… a stamina recovery skill or something? Phew! I didn’t think I’d get a workout while playing a video game, haha~”   
  
“Except if you workout here, you’ll never lose weight.” Hikasa said offhandedly. Lisa gasped dramatically, and the turquoise-haired girl flinched at the sound.   
  
“Are you implying that I need to workout, Hikasa? Are you implying that I’m fat?” she held her hands over her heart as if struck, and though Yukina knew her best friend was just joking, it didn’t seem that Hikasa understood that.   
  
“Wh-what?! N-no! I-I was just- Um…” she grew more and more flustered as she tried to explain herself, and if Yukina allowed herself to be honest, she found the girl cute as her pale cheeks became stained with red.   
  
“Haha! I’m kidding, Hikasa~!” Lisa groaned as she lifted herself off the floor and wrapped an arm around Hikasa’s shoulders. “It seems you haven’t gotten my humor just yet, but worry not! If I tease you as long as I’ve teased Yukina, you might just get me☆” Hikasa then turned to Yukina with a hopeless look on her face.   
  
“Yukina, how long have you two known one another?”   
  
“Basically our whole lives, and we’re in our last year of high school, so take that however you may?” Hikasa groaned, and as Lisa entertained herself by embarrassing the girl further, Yukina couldn’t help but smile. She wondered if they could ever be like this in real life. Forget the outrageous outfits, lifelike weapons, and fantasy world, but just the five of them in casual clothing, and nothing but one another. Speaking of five, the other two members of their party were-  
  
“Hikasa-nee! Look! We finally got  **<The Rainbow Scale>** !” Ako screamed while sprinting to the other girl. The rare item was practically shoved into the view of green eyes, and Hikasa reached out to hold Ako in place since her jumping was preventing her from getting a clear view of the item. Rinko looked up to smile before she returned to the other handful of items they earned and scanned through them all.   
  
Once all the items were collected by Rinko, a Transport appeared at the center of the room to bring them all back to **《Cold-Blood Canyon》** . It was a rather gloomy place, and Yukina remembers reading the story of the canyon being that reptilian monsters invaded and ravaged the area, and is the reason that few towns and people are here, and why it got its name. It wasn’t the best place to be as there was no Tavern to rest at, and few Shops with items that matched their current level and skill, but it was a good place to earn experience and rare items only found in the dungeons and boss levels in the canyon.   
  
“So where to next?” Lisa asked when they made it back from the boss room.   
  
“Why don’t we head to **《Mount Illusion》** ?” Ako suggested. “There is another boss there that also has rare items. Rin-rin and I have been meaning to go there, but we decided to wait it out since Lisa-nee and Yukina-san were still getting used to the game and stuff.”   
  
“Why didn’t you just go without us?” Yukina asked.   
  
“Oh, well,” Ako turned a bit red. “We wanted to go as a whole party cuz you know… We’re a party, right! We should do stuff together all the time!” Ako said while shuffling her feet.   
  
“Aw, is Ako getting sentimental~?” Lisa teased again.   
  
“A-absolutely not! The great Demon Princess does not get sentimental with mere mortals! My presence is too incomprehensible for any of you short-lived beings to… uh, comprehend?” Yukina heard Rinko whisper “fathom” before Ako mimicked her by yelling, “Yes! Fathom!” and continuing her confusing speech. Indeed, Yukina could not fathom why Ako spoke like this at random points in time, but it was rather endearing, and Yukina couldn’t see Ako in any other way--the same way she couldn’t see Rinko not ranting endlessly about some aspect of any game she has ever played. She didn’t understand either of their rants, but they were unique to Ako and Rinko, and she couldn’t hate those sides of them.   
  
Yukina only wished she could pick a quirk of Hikasa’s like she has for Ako and Rinko. But alas, she didn’t feel like she knew the girl enough to do that.   
  


**-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-**  
  


In preparation for fighting the boss over at **《Mount Illusion》** , the group met several times over the week outside of their time in game to brief Yukina and Lisa, as this boss was rather tricky. Hikasa mentioned fighting the boss before, and as the name of the location it is at implies, illusions occur when in the boss room. Hikasa told stories of the several times she has in fact fought the boss at **《Mount Illusion》** , and failed nearly every time because she and the supports couldn’t back up the main attackers in her past parties and guild. Though it seems impossible, there are special items given to groups who beat the boss as incentive; plus, the less tries, the better the rewards.   
  
_ “Each illusion can be told apart though,” _ she had said.  _ “But it may be tricky for most of us here.” _ and that was how the group ended up at her house, and in the extra room she used to use to practice singing and guitar.   
  
Her father wasn’t home when she brought them all over, and Yukina wasn’t sure if she was happy or not. On one hand, she was glad that she didn’t have to show her depressed, likely drunk father to Ako and Rinko, but on the other, she wanted to introduce her father to her new friends. She remembers when she was younger, her father would encourage her to make more friends since she only had Lisa, but it wasn’t until now that she met people who she was comfortable enough with to bring to her home. Her father wasn’t the same as he was back then though, and even if he did meet Ako and Rinko, she doubts her father would find their presence meaningful in any way.   
  
But she didn’t have much time to ruminate on her father, as the voices of her friends filled her normally silent house.   
  
“I can’t believe I’m in Minato Yuuki’s house…” Ako said in awe. She looked as if she’d stumble and fall at any given moment while they climbed the stairs, and Rinko grabbed Ako’s hand to help her along. Yukina didn’t see much to be in awe about in regards to her house, but maybe it was because of the more recent and not-so-pleasant memories she’s had in it.   
  
“I didn’t realize your house was this big, Yukina-san.” Rinko said quietly. Yukina noticed that the girl stuttered less when around them, especially when they were all in a more private space, and Yukina was glad that Rinko was getting comfortable enough to speak more confidently.   
  
“Why of course, Rin-rin! Minato Yuuki and Roselia are so popular that I’m surprised that this house isn’t even bigger than it already is!” Ako yelled with a wave of her arm.   
  
“Well, it really is just my father and me, so we didn’t want the house to be too big. It’d be too lonely otherwise.” not that her house wasn’t lonely, but she didn’t need to bring the mood down.   
  
“Wh-what happened to your…” Rinko went back to stuttering, but Yukina understood why.   
  
“My mother died in childbirth. I don’t have any memories of her, but I have many pictures.” Yukina gave a smile.   
  
“O-oh, I’m so sorry.” and she brought the mood down…   
  
“Please don’t apologize. I think because I never had an emotional attachment to my mother, her not being here hasn’t affected me much. I’m very happy with just my father in my life, so please don’t worry.” Rinko nodded slowly, and Ako mirrored her with a solemn look on her face. Yukina wished to bring back her enthusiasm, so she walked a tad quicker to her old practice room. She plugged in a familiar speaker and played the recordings on it, and within seconds, the sounds of Roselia’s music filled the practice room.   
  
“Whoa! Roselia’s instrumental!” Ako yelled before admiring everything in the room. Her smile was infectious, and Yukina couldn’t help but smile as well. Rinko joined her, though more quiet in her enthusiasm, and even walked to the piano at the corner and began to play a simple tune.   
  
“This is fun, hm?” Lisa said from beside her. Whenever Lisa was over, they hung out in Yukina’s bedroom. Rarely did they ever enter her practice room, and even when they did, it was mostly to retrieve something Yukina left in here, or to give Lisa a sneak peek to her father’s latest work.   
  
“Yes, it is.” she smiled fondly at the two younger girls talking rambunctiously (well, as rambunctious as Rinko could get), and wondered how different the scene would be if Hikasa was with them.   
  


**-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-**  
  


“So down to business!” Ako announced when she had finally calmed down. “How to avoid the illusions at **《Mount Illusion》** ! Yukina-san!” Ako delegated the topic to her in a single finger point. “This is your area of expertise, so go right ahead please!” she said before plopping down next to Rinko.   
  
“Well, so Hikasa mentioned that the illusions are hard to pick up on, but distinct if you pay close enough attention.”   
  
_ “There are six different illusions, each designed to throw off anyone and everyone. The only way to avoid the illusions is to hear where they’re coming from, and dodge before the boss hits you with it. In order to do that, you must listen to the music all around you.”  _  
  
“Hikasa said that in comparison to the other boss rooms, this one in particular has music that we have to pay attention to. It’s the only way we’ll be able to figure out which illusion it is, and how to avoid it.”   
  
_ “There are three separate ways that the illusions are delivered: one to our heads, one to our feet, and one to our whole body. With the first, you have to duck; with the second, you have to jump; and with the third, stop in place, locate where it’s coming from, and give yourself a boost to dodge.” _  
  
“Not only will we have to adjust our movements to these strange dodges, but we’ll have to keep our ears open for the music.”   
  
_ “The best part is that the illusions occur in intervals all at the same time. So as long as any one of us recognizes when the illusion is about to hit us, we’ll be able to alert the whole party. Yukina, I’m counting on you to help me with that.”  _  
  
“Hikasa and I can’t do anything but tell you when it is about to happen. Figuring out which illusion it will be is going to be the difficult part, and each of us has to memorize it, or we put our chances of doing this in one shot at risk.”   
  
_ “The background music for this particular boss room is a piece that is repeated again and again. The trick is that you have to focus on what the music is trying not to emphasize, and in the middle of an intense battle, that is very difficult.”  _  
  
“This may be easy for Rinko as well? I saw you on the piano earlier, and you seemed to be comfortable with it.”   
  
_ “The first and second illusions, which are the ones aimed for the head, are probably the most difficult. This is because the sign given for these illusions are just different notes in the music, and if you aren’t paying attention, they’ll go unnoticed.”  _  
  
“The music that we are given to listen to is the leading guitar, and the other background strings. The background strings are what we have to focus on.”   
  
_ “The third and fourth illusions, which are the ones aimed for the feet, are probably the easiest since the music slows down. It is almost jarring when it happens because of how fast the music normally is, and because we will likely be moving around a lot.”  _  
  
“If it slows down for you, just stop and prepare yourself. It’s best in these moments that we focus on ourselves rather than the rest of the group. It increases the chances of the entire group surviving, and not having one person sacrifice themselves. Once the illusion has passed, if someone gets caught, then we assist.”   
  
_ “The fifth and sixth illusions, which are the ones aimed for the body, are sort of in the middle. The music speeds up, and depending on your role, this can be easy or hard to catch. Listening to the music in general and catching the little details are easier for most backline players, because they don’t run around a whole lot. The running gives us a different interpretation of the speed of the music, and that is the most difficult part, especially when our party is rather lacking in frontline defense.”  _  
  
“When Hikasa and I yell for you girls, just stop, and listen. This is the best way to deal with the illusions and hopefully not get hit with any.”   
  
_ “I’ll see if I can find or replicate the sounds, and send you a recording. Then, you can all practice or get used to listening to it.”  _  
  
The recording that Hikasa sent over was of a guitar. Yukina assumed that this would be the lead guitar playing over the rest of the background music. After a plethora of solo guitar, the sounds of background strings entered the fray, and within a single listen, Yukina had easily memorized the piece. It repeated a couple times, before she noticed the minor note changes. Then she heard the strings slowing down, and then speeding up. It then got jumbled and was no longer going in order, but she still easily recognized the changes. For her practiced ears, it was easy to catch, and a single glance at the rest of her party members told her that this just might work.   
  
Rinko was already nodding along, her finger tapping when the music began changing. Lisa and Ako were slightly more behind, but were doing an admirable job at trying to keep up with Rinko’s accurate tapping. A full three minutes in, and they were all able to identify what was what. Lisa and Ako got it wrong a couple times, but it was as close to perfection as they could currently get. She made sure to send the recording to everyone so that they could all practice in preparation, and she watched as they left one by one.   
  
Her house was now empty again, and for the first time in a long time, Yukina genuinely felt lonely. From her bed, she heard the front door open. She glanced out of her bedroom window to see her father’s car, and debated going down to greet him. The sound of the television playing loudly deterred her though, and she settled for messaging Hikasa out of both boredom, and curiosity.   
  
_ Me  _ _ Hey, I was wondering how you knew so much about music.  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ Not just anyone can notice all the little bits you did, and identify what those differences are. The only reason we were all able to do with relative ease was because we all have some kind of musical background.  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ You know about my dad being a great musician and all, and that’s why I was able to get it. _  
  
_ Me  _ _ He kind of taught me some things when I was a bit younger.  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ But what about you?  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ Well I play a bit of guitar  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ Really? Me too, actually.  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ I’m not that great at it though. I think I can still play all the chords and some simple songs, but I’m not amazing or anything.  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ How about you?  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ Do you have anything to brag about?  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ Not in particular _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ I used to play in a band  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ I ended up dropping out though  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ Oh.  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ Well that’s still cool.  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ How was it?  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ My dad doesn’t tell me anything about Roselia.  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ It was really fun  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ There was always fun when I was around the other members of the band  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ We got along really well  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ Were you guys good?  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ I’d like to think so, yeah  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ Maybe not the best though since I never seemed to be able to play better than my sister  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ She’s also in a band  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ You have a sister?  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ Yeah  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ A twin sister, actually  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ Is she older than you?  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ Younger  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ That’s cool.  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ I don’t have any siblings.  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ I know, haha  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ Your dad is kinda famous, may I remind you  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ Ah, of course.  _  
  
Yukina couldn’t help but notice the smile stretched on her face. She scrolled through her messages briefly and was surprised by how much she was talking. She still remembers all the whispers from other students about how short she was with her words, and even Lisa mentioned that Yukina should try and be more open with other people since some of their classmates found her intimidating. There was just something so easy about being with Hikasa, and Yukina wondered for a moment if she was developing some kinds of feelings for her online friend. Yukina is no stranger to stories about couples who met online and are happily together, but Yukina never saw herself as someone who would become so attached to someone so quickly, especially someone she has never formally met before.   
  
Although, she also never saw herself as much of a gamer, but she would proudly say that she now has a certain fondness for the world of gaming.   
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ Give me a sec  _  
  
_ Hikasa  _ _ Someone’s calling  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ No problem.  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ It’s not like I’m going anywhere, haha.  _  
  
Just as Yukina was about to put her phone down, it vibrated again. For a moment she thought that it was Hikasa and was going to ask her why she hadn’t accepted the call yet, but she saw that it was instead from Lisa. She then got one from Ako, and the two began spamming her with messages from both her texting app, as well as the NFO messaging app. There were too many to read them all, but she was able to catch bits and pieces of it.   
  
_ Lisa _ _ Yukina, you better see this article!  _  
  
_ Ako _ _ Yukina-san! Check this article out! It was just reported that-  _  
  
_ “Breaking news coming in just now, rock band Roselia’s guitarist’s identity has been revealed!”  _  
  
_ “Roselia’s Hisayo unmasked!”  _  
  
_ “The real story behind Roselia’s Hisayo?!”  _  
  
** _roselove***_ ** _ Hikawa Hina, someone look her up!  _  
  
** _pa**a36 _ ** _ I can’t believe one of you actually put your hands on her just to see her face  _  
  
** _**altic _ ** _ they have masks for a reason what the hell guys  _  
  
** _t***yeol80_ ** _ omg i remember her from grade school!  _  
  
** _je**7642_ ** _ Didn’t she have a twin?  _  
  
** _guitarfan17_ ** _ I’m pretty sure her name was Sayo  _  
  
** _je**7642_ ** _ Yeah that’s it!  _  
  
** _guitarfan17_ ** _ [image link]  _  
  
** _guitarfan17_ ** _ [image link]  _  
  
** _guitarfan17_ ** _ Didn’t she like disappear one day?  _  
  
** _aku**tan _ ** _ My skin was so clear back then…  _  
  
** _t***yeol80_ ** _ well technically she’s still missing isn’t she?  _  
  
** _luvband** _ ** _ y’all stop being creeps and looking them up  _  
  
** _guitarfan17_ ** _ [image link]  _  
  
** _guitarfan17_ ** _ [image link]  _  
  
** _roselove*** _ ** _ Are they identical?  _  
  
** _kay*nana _ ** _ one of them told me they were fraternal  _  
  
** _kay*nana _ ** _ forgot which one though  _  
  
** _blackflower1 _ ** _ Any of you know what happened to her?  _  
  
** _je**7642_ ** _ To Sayo? Nope.  _  
  
** _t***yeol80_ ** _ not a clue  _  
  
There was a sound of breaking glass and something else crashing, and Yukina sprinted out of her room, and down the stairs to find out what happened. She entered her living room to see the television cracked, and a shattered beer bottle broken on the ground. She then heard a slam, and turned to her father’s office to see the door shut tight, with a trail of what appeared to be red wine along the floor. There was a broken wine glass as well apparently, and Yukina found herself tiptoeing towards the stairs to avoid getting anything into her feet.   
  
Yukina contemplated for several moments whether or not she wanted to go and knock on her father’s office, but the plethora of broken glass told her that it probably wouldn’t be the best idea to approach the man right now. She felt so hopeless in this situation, and wanted so badly to be able to walk into her father’s office and just talk it out with him. But things have been going unsaid between them for the past few years, and quite frankly, Yukina didn’t know how to approach her father, especially when it had to do with his band.   
  
_ Me  _ _ Don’t come over tomorrow.  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ There’s glass all over the floor.  _  
  
_ Lisa  _ _ Are you sure?  _  
  
_ Lisa  _ _ I can help clean it up  _  
  
_ Lisa  _ _ And hide from reporters with you~  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ I’ll be okay, don’t worry.  _  
  
_ Lisa  _ _ How’s your dad?  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ Locked in his office.  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ It’s getting late.  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ I’ll talk to you tomorrow.  _  
  
_ Lisa  _ _ Will you be coming to school?  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ Maybe.  _  
  
_ Lisa  _ _ Okay  _  
  
_ Lisa  _ _ Well I’m here for you, okay? ♩  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ Thanks Lisa.  _  
  
_ Lisa  _ _ It’s what best friends are for~☆ _  
  
Yukina was about to turn in for the night when she remembered that her conversation with Hikasa wasn’t over yet. She returned to their chat, only to see it come up empty. Was Hikasa still talking to whoever it was that called her? Yukina had been reading articles and going through forums for a solid twenty minutes, plus her time going down her stairs, assessing the situation, and going back up, added at least five minutes.   
  
_ Me  _ _ Hey, I just wanted to get back to you.  _  
  
_ Me  _ _ Are you still on the call?  _  
  
Yukina never got a response that night. She also didn’t get a response the following night, as well as the night after that. Additionally, she hadn’t been logging into NFO, but was constantly checking if Hikasa had been online. The little circle next to the girl’s blue rose icon stayed red though, with no sign of Hikasa logging into her account, or even opening the messaging app. She had been getting updates from Lisa about quests that she, Ako, and Rinko were completing, and though Lisa said they were status updates for the party itself, Yukina knew they also doubled as status updates on herself. Lisa would never say it outloud, but Yukina knew the little things her best friend would do just to make sure she was okay.   
  
It wasn’t until the fourth day that Yukina finally logged onto NFO, and she couldn’t help the ache she felt when she only saw three people before her. The air was awkward as the group made sure not to mention the elephant in the room, but it wasn’t long until Ako snapped while they were collecting some materials for a side quest they decided to do.   
  
“Okay we have to talk about it! It’s so obvious that we’re avoiding talking about her!” she yelled.   
  
“C-calm down, Ako-chan.” Rinko tried softly.   
  
“I’m just really surprised, okay? I just didn’t think that Hisayo was so close to me this whole freaking time!” she said exasperatedly.   
  
“Wait, Hisayo?” Yukina asked. Why were they worried about her? “I thought we were talking about Hikasa.” the three of them then looked at Yukina as if she had grown two heads, and Yukina wasn’t sure what to think.   
  
“Where have you been these last few days?” Ako asked. It came out rather disrespectfully, and Rinko jumped at her best friend quickly to try and calm her down further.   
  
“Yukina,” Lisa said slowly. “Did you not look at the articles thoroughly? There were pictures uploaded everywhere.”   
  
“After the first night, reporters were at our doorstep again, and I tried to stay as far away as possible from the media. I didn’t bother looking at pictures either since I didn’t see a point. She wanted to stay masked, and we should respect that.”   
  
“Well yeah, but-”   
  
“Well then, here!” Ako said before swiping an article that she just searched up in front of her. Yukina scrolled slowly through the floating article, but froze when she got a look at a picture of the Hikawa Hina who was at the center of all this. “Now do you see why you should have bothered?”   
  
_ Yes _ , she definitely sees now, because Yukina couldn’t take her eyes off of the spitting image of the girl who she has grown such a strong attachment to. Yukina then recalled all the things that Hikasa had told her the last time they spoke:   
  
Guitar, a band, and sister--a  _ twin  _ sister, to be precise. A twin sister who was in a band, and herself, who wasn’t. And here, a new article, revealing that Hina had actually taken over for her twin sister after Roselia’s European tour, and is the reason the sounds changed after that. Though the reasons continued to stay unknown, and the band remained silent when asked about where Sayo was, and what had happened to her.   
  
And though Yukina could pretend that this was just the world playing a cruel joke on her, she couldn’t rightfully believe that this many similarities would direct her to two different people. She logged off quickly, ignoring the voices of her friends trying to stop her. When she came to, she practically threw the LiNK to the ground before grasping for her phone, and searching through her history for those forum posts she read a few nights ago. There were many more posts now, but she scrolled all the way to where she remembers the plethora of pictures were posted, opened every single one of them, and just stared.   
  
_ There she is _ , Yukina thought.  _ She’s right there _ .   
  
Within a matter of minutes, the turquoise haired girl she began to develop something for went from Hikasa, the reliable Tank, to Hisayo, the mysterious guitarist of her father’s band--the same guitarist who put her father in his spiral of depression. And if the feelings Yukina felt blooming in her chest for Hikasa weren’t confusing enough, the feelings Yukina felt rekindle for Hisayo took her mind for a spin, and left Yukina even more baffled than she has ever felt in her whole eighteen years of life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In regards to the amount of time that has passed, I haven’t thought of an exact amount of time. I like to think of it approximating around three months, but you can think of it however you want. 
> 
> If anything seems out of place, as I have said before, I am very thankful when it is pointed it out to me. All I have all my two pairs that miss a whole bunch of stuff, so it’s very helpful when mistakes are pointed out to me. 
> 
> I also just found out that all the fancy font and colors go away if you view this through an incognito tab, so that's pretty interesting. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter, whoo! I’m actually really happy that I’ve been able to put these chapters out so regularly… I have to say that I’m a bit proud of myself. I haven’t been this excited to write for a while, and I’m really happy that I’ve been able to find the motivation to write again. 
> 
> This is a bit of a shorter chapter since I didn’t know what else to put in it, and didn’t want to drag it out for too long. Next chapter will probably be a shorter length as well, and I think the chapter after that will be longer. I have plans for what I want to include in each chapter, so that seems to be what is coming… Though the last chapter was an anomaly, and became longer than I originally intended it to be, lol. It was going to be even longer, but I decided to leave some stuff out. 
> 
> With that out of the way, happy reading! 

Me_ Hey, I just wanted to let you know that you can always talk to me, okay? _  
  
Is what Yukina sent the day she found out the secret that Hikasa, who is also known as Hisayo, and is also known as Hikawa Sayo, was hiding from them all this whole time. In reality, she was hiding it from the entire world, but Yukina felt it to be a little more personal. Whether it be because of her relationship with Hikasa the **<Tank>**, or because of her relationship with Hisayo the guitarist, Yukina didn’t know. All she knew is that she felt that the person Hikawa Sayo was most unfair to was herself. The thought seemed selfish, but she couldn’t help what her mind conjured up, and she certainly couldn’t help the way she felt about that which had been conjured.   
  
__ Me _I miss you. _  
  
Those words came flying from her fingers faster than she could process, and by the time she had hit the **SEND** button and watched the little blue bar on her phone scroll all the way to the right, she realized the weight of what she had typed.   
  
Was she allowed to miss Hikasa? Or rather, Hisayo? Hikawa Sayo? Yukina didn’t know what to call her now. Regardless, it’s not like Yukina really knew her. They weren’t even that close, if you asked Yukina from an objective standpoint. But somewhere deep in her heart, Yukina felt that she had become one of the closest people to Hikawa Sayo (Yukina decided to go with that since she wasn’t in-game). Surely she couldn’t be closer, in comparison, to the people in Hikawa Sayo’s life who knew about her dual--or rather, triple--identity, but she felt that there was a part of Hikawa Sayo’s life that only she was able to learn about.   
  
The creation of the alias Hikasa told Yukina that the life Hikawa Sayo led as herself, Hisayo, and Hikasa were all different in one way or another. As Hikawa Sayo, Yukina read that her classmates viewed her as strict and cold, with nothing but judgement on those who didn’t seem to fit her standards. As Hisayo, Yukina recalls fans saying that the guitarist was cool and easy to interact with at concerts. And as Hikasa, Yukina knows nothing but the friendly and supportive **<Tank>** who, at some points, would quite literally hold her hand and walk her through the ups and downs of the gaming world, with nothing but a smile on her face. They stood in stark contrast to one another, and Yukina couldn’t help but wonder which was the real Hikawa Sayo.   
  
There would be only one person she could talk to about this--only one person who could give her as accurate an answer as Hikawa Sayo allowed when she presented herself to the world with whichever mask she chose to hide herself behind… Only one person, and she isn’t even sure she’d be able to get a word out of the man.   
  


**-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-**  
  


“Has she returned any messages from you, Yukina?” Lisa asked.   
  
“No, she hasn’t.” Yukina said solemnly. Ako sighed and deflated against the kotatsu they were currently sitting around. They had decided to continue their meetings as a group, but instead of meeting to talk about NFO, they met to talk about Hikawa Sayo, and any developments any of them had with trying to get in contact with her.   
  
“I went through the… class rosters.” Rinko said softly. “But she wasn’t… in any of them.”   
  
“Are you sure? But my father said that she went to Hanasakigawa.” Yukina said.   
  
“It turns out that she… dropped out… about a year or so ago.” well that made sense. It’s not like Yukina has had any solid conversations with her father in the past year.   
  
“Lisa-nee and I have been trying to get a hold of Hina-san, but it turns out she’s been absent since the secret got out.”   
  
“Apparently a classmate of hers, by the name of Yamato Maya, has been keeping Hina-san up to date on class and homework. We tried approaching her too, telling her that we knew Hina-san’s sister, but Yamato-san said she wasn’t allowed to say anything, and wouldn’t.”   
  
“So that was a dead end too.” Ako finished.   
  
“What about you, Yukina?” Lisa asked after a moment in silence. “Have you found anything?”   
  
“No, I haven’t. I thought that I could ask my dad, but…” she trailed off. It became evident as the months passed that Yukina and her father weren’t on the best of terms. At first, Ako would jump up and down to ask Yukina about her father and about Roselia, but as time passed, she gradually stopped doing that. Yukina wasn’t sure if Rinko said something since the younger girl always seemed to notice her shift in mood, or if Lisa mentioned their estranged relationship during their time at the dance club. But either way, her father soon became a touchy subject among them. They never talked too much of him or Roselia, and even if Roselia was mentioned, they made it a point to go around her father. Yukina was glad to have friends who cared about her in this manner, but she couldn’t help but feel that it was strange that she couldn’t talk about her dad, of all people, to her closest friends.   
  
“O-oh, um, you don’t have to do that, Yukina-san.” Ako said hurriedly. “We can always find another way.”   
  
“Yeah, it’s not like Hi… Sayo-san just… disappeared.” Rinko pitched in.   
  
“Yup~!” Lisa came in to wrap an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t you worry about that, okay? We’ll find Sayo eventually, even if it means following Yamato-san!☆”  
  
“Please, I don’t want to be associated with stalkers.” Yukina said offhandedly. She managed a smile when Ako began making fun of Lisa for even bringing up the idea, and it gave Yukina some time to think. She should go talk to her father. This is one of their closest friends, and Yukina didn’t feel that it was right to create an obstacle that she could easily overcome by simply talking to her father. A shaky hand came to rest on hers, and when she looked up, the ravenette flinched and turned a shade of red. Purple orbs glanced quickly at the bickering duo before landing on Yukina again.   
  
“Don’t feel… obliged to do anything, Yukina-san. We’ll figure this out together.” Rinko said while offering a reassuring smile.   
  
“Thank you, Rinko.” the words told Yukina how much her friends supported her, but even their best intentions couldn’t turn Yukina away from this opportunity. She had to do this. It was in her nature to shoot for the things that she wants, and what she wants now is to see the person she had grown so attached to these last few months. Upon finding that person though, Yukina wasn’t sure what she would feel. But you never know unless you try, they always say--and Yukina was never one to not try.   
  


**-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-**  
  


Her father wasn’t home when she entered it after their group meeting. There was a bit of disappointment, but she couldn’t help but see her father’s absence as an allowance to prepare for what she would say to him when he did come home. Should she just jump into it and ask? Should she lead the question in somehow? If so, with what? What would she say? Her mind became discombobulated with thoughts as she laid in her bed in frustration, and still in her uniform. With that in mind, she decided to take a bath to relax herself.   
  
Yukina didn’t normally run baths. She wasn’t particularly fond of being submerged in water, and she often was asked by Lisa how she was able to keep her hair so smooth and healthy even though she took quick showers. Yukina was never able to give her friend a solid answer, but all she knew was that she didn’t want to be in the water for too long, and also wanted to keep her long hair. She had to find a balance, and years of routine allowed Yukina to accomplish just that.   
  
Yukina couldn’t remember the last time she took a bath, and found herself momentarily unsure of how to even get the water running from the facet, and not the showerhead. After that, she went on a hunt for the drain stopper, and found it in the back of one of her cabinets.   
  
After settling in the warm water, Yukina found that she understood why people did this so often. At first, she was mildly perturbed to have the water at her neck, but she eventually sank into the bath, and absorbed the warmth that the water gave her skin. It was indeed relaxing, and for a moment, Yukina was afraid of making this a habit. But honestly, what did she have to lose? She allowed herself a bit of fun, and blew small bubbles in the bath water to occupy her mind so that she wasn’t thinking about her father. It worked, and Yukina found herself blowing bubbles to see if she couldn’t make one any bigger than the size of a golf ball. She never succeeded by the time the water started losing its warmth, and it was then that Yukina decided it was time for her to get out.   
  
When all was done, she found herself laying on her bed again, not knowing what to say. Her friends told her that she didn’t need to do this, so she couldn’t ask them about it. Not only that, but none of her friends had issues with their parents. To them, asking their parents questions was just some mundane action they did everyday. To them, it was nothing. But to Yukina, this would be a big step. It could very much bring her and her father back together if this talk went well, and the expectation of that happening forced Yukina to think about every little thing she could or couldn’t say. She constantly second-guessed herself, and for nearly an hour, was unable to come up with a speech she thought was decent enough to begin the healing process between her and her father, while also addressing Hikawa Sayo.   
  
Then she heard the door open, and Yukina scrambled to her window to see her father’s car parked in the driveway. It was now or never, she supposed, and slowly made her way down the stairs, trying to delay seeing her father. When she got down though, he was nowhere in sight. The door to his office was open though, and she tiptoed over to peer inside the dark room. With nothing but the light from the living beaming in to help her see, Yukina’s eyes swept the room quickly to find any semblance of her father. She found him to the left of her, asleep in his armchair, with a bottle of beer in his hand. Was he drunk driving? Seriously? Yukina sighed and shook her head before walking over to remove the bottle of alcohol from her father’s hand. She set it gently on the table next to him, and watched him sleep for a few moments. I guess she could try this another time.   
  
When she turned to leave though, she noticed the mess on her father’s desk. She swore she had just cleaned the room up a couple days ago, and he’s already made a mess of it? Yukina went to see exactly what her father had been up to, and was surprised when she saw familiar faces with green eyes and turquoise hair.   
  
There were pictures of Sayo and Hina that appeared to Yukina like ID pictures because of the identical backgrounds, and the fact that they were both in their school uniforms. With unsteady fingers, Yukina reached for Sayo’s picture, and noticed that it was attached to a file. She then took the file in both hands, and turned it to see information on Sayo that wasn’t in her father’s writing. It seemed to be an application, and here, Yukina was able to confirm that Sayo did used to go to Hanasakigawa Academy. There was also her age, height, weight, and strengths--strengths that consisted of “guitar”, and nothing more. Band applications--that's what they seemed like to Yukina. But to have the focus on these two? Well, it was obvious why, but there still remained the question of why her father cared so much about these two. Or maybe it was just Sayo? Yukina didn’t know.   
  
She was going to turn another page, when the groggy voice of her father called out to her.   
  
“Yukina?” she turned quickly, putting the file behind her. “What are you doing here?” he asked after glancing around to see where he was.   
  
“I- um…” she stumbled over her words. Her father then tried to lift himself from the armchair, only to fall back down in his effort. “Let me get you water…” Yukina said quietly. She placed the file back on his desk and hoped her father didn’t notice anything before rushing out to retrieve a glass of water for him. When she returned, the lights were on, and her father was bent over the desk, looking at the mess of files. He accepted the glass with a quiet “thank you”, and practically took it all in a single gulp. “I’m just going to-” Yukina tried dismissing herself.   
  
“Why are you so interested in her, Yukina?” her father asked, voice still hoarse from his light slumber. What her interest that obvious?   
  
“No reason, I just… saw it on your desk. That’s all.” the excuse didn’t seem to work, and only gave her father a more creased brow as he appeared to be thinking about something. The silence was undeniably awkward, and Yukina wasn’t sure if she should continue standing there, or if she should just excuse herself. She was battling herself again over the choice, when her father’s eyes caught her in their view. Yukina found that she hadn’t been in the view of those gray eyes in a long time, and didn’t notice till now the sheer exhaustion that inhabited her father’s features.   
  
“You never come here when I’m at home, Yukina.” he says truthfully, almost sounding remorseful.   
  
“I just…”  _ it was now or never._ “I want to ask you something.” his eyebrow quirked lazily, disappearing into the mess of dark hair that blanketed most of his forehead. He really needed a haircut.   
  
“What did you want to ask about?” he asked softly, as if speaking any louder would break what they had in this moment. Yukina understood that, she did. But that wasn’t going to stop her now. She had someone to find, after all.   
  
“I wanted to ask about her--about Hikawa Sayo,” she said plainly. Yukina frowned when her father visibly froze, but carried on. “I wanted to know about her--I wanted to know about her current whereabouts.” he appeared to be at a loss for words as he began to process what Yukina had asked of him. Then he shook his head.   
  
“You don’t need to know where she is. She’s fine, okay? There’s no need to-”   
  
“She won’t answer any of my messages.” Yukina blurted out without thinking.   
  
“She- What?” her father turned to her incredulously. Yukina felt a slight heat in her cheeks, and so wished that the lights in the room were still off.   
  
“Like I said--she won’t answer my messages.” Yukina stated, trying to remain confident. Her father appeared to be thinking again, but this time with a look of resolve. He cracked a smile and chuckled to himself, shaking his head. He took a breath, and when he came up to look at Yukina, she was faced with a look of despair. Had her father always looked like this?   
  
“I feel like we haven’t communicated at all in these last few years,” _that’s an understatement_, is what Yukina wanted to say, but stopped to listen. “And I have no one to blame but myself. I’m sure I’ve hurt you. I see it in your eyes when you try and help me but I push you away, but that’s only because I can’t stand the thought of you thinking of your old man as some kind of slob or failure, but I also can’t seem to get out of this loop.” he chuckled almost hopelessly.  
  
“Everytime I look at you, I see your mother. She was so beautiful, and so kind, and even though my chosen path was unconventional and I didn’t know if we would end up in a one room studio or our dream house, she stood by my side and loved me unconditionally. I see you, and I see her, and I don’t want to let either of you down.” a flash of emotion appeared in his dull gaze before his eyes darted to the floor. “Though it seems I have--not as a musician or a producer, but as a father.” Yukina had no words to return what her father said. She wasn’t even sure if she was allowed to say anything, so she decided that she would just listen.   
  
“I just… I just need you to know that you are the love of my life, Yukina. Now that may be strange to hear from your father, especially since I’ve treated you like a stranger for far too long, but it’s the only way I can put into words how much you mean to me. Of course I write music for Roselia, for the fans, and in some ways, for the money. But in reality, the real reason I write music is for us--it’s for you. You are the only reason I work through days and nights. You are the sole drive that makes me the person I am at heart, and even though I haven’t been the father you’ve needed, I just need you to know that you mean the world to me.” he approached her with arms slightly raised, but dropped them back down to his side as if to say,  _ “No, I can’t.” _ He continued.   
  
“You are the love of my life. You are the love that I want to see grow up into a beautiful woman, and find a love that you will cherish with both of your hands. You are the love that I want to see make your mark on the world in any which way you desire, with the people you hold dear. You are the love that I want to see enjoy life to the best of your ability, because that is what you deserve. You are the only thing in this world that I truly, truly love, and if not for you, then there would be no meaning in what I do.” there was a pause as he collected himself. He bravely fought back tears that welled up in his eyes, and Yukina held her breath, afraid that if she so much as opened her mouth, she’d collapse into a puddle of her own tears, and break the fragile tranquility they were currently standing in. For a moment in their silence, Yukina wondered what else her father had to say, but when she looked up, she noticed him struggling with words. Seeing her father like this made Yukina realize in full that she wasn’t the only one suffering, and she reached forward to hold her father’s hands gently as a way to reassure him (she remembers faintly that her father would do the same when she was younger). He smiled at the contact, and continued after taking in a deep, shaky breath.   
  
“When I first met Sayo, I thought she would be hard to deal with, and in all honesty, she was.” he laughed breathlessly, and shrugged a shoulder to wipe a fallen tear. “She was cold and stubborn to a fault--so calculated and almost detached, it was as if she were a robot who didn’t know what rest was like. She never stopped, was agitated when practice was paused, and would lecture the other members of the band when someone repeated a mistake over and over again. She was brilliant with the guitar though, and despite her attitude, I knew that I would be able to get to her somehow. Luckily for me, the other members didn’t back down from her, and they met her with a sort of enthusiasm I guess she wasn’t used to, and slowly, she showed herself under all those walls she put up.” his smile faltered.   
  
“When Hina finally took her place, I realized how much easier it was to approach her in comparison to her sister. She was much brighter than Sayo, and always had a smile on her face. She was just as brilliant with the guitar as her twin sister was, and in some ways, it felt good to work with Hina in place of Sayo. But then I realized that there was no longer someone there to take charge of practice when I wasn’t around. There was no longer someone to help me with the music and nitpick at things that even I would miss in a single practice run. There was no longer that same person to carry the sound that I fell in love with creating when I first started Roselia. Sayo may have been a difficult person to deal with at first, but eventually, she became an irreplaceable part of Roselia, and even my life. I couldn’t even fathom the thought of permanently replacing her with anyone, and as time went on, the more likely it seemed that I would have to do that one day.”   
  
“She was irritated with herself, berated herself for the way she had become, and even though the other members and myself tried to comfort her, it was to no avail. She closed herself off from the world, and it was only behind closed doors that I would hear her when she was most vulnerable. I wanted to burst through and hug her, tell her that everything would be okay, and that she just happened to be one of the unlucky ones. She deserves happiness, and in some ways, I wish I could adopt her and make her one of my own.” another tear escaped, but he didn’t bother to wipe this one.   
  
“Then a few months ago, she sparked up again. There was a new determination in her eyes to get back the life she once had, and I couldn’t be more proud of her. She fought hard, and her stubbornness shined at its peak. It was during this time that I once again had to remind her that she needed to rest, so that she could take care of herself. But she said that she couldn’t just stop to rest. She needed to push forward to be her better self, and sitting around wasn’t going to help her do that. Then the incident happened, and now she’s shut down again.” he looked up at Yukina and gave her the biggest smile she’s seen on him in years.   
  
“I don’t know why you’re so curious about Sayo. Maybe you resent her for taking me away from you, or maybe you are the reason the light in her eyes had returned.” he reached into his pocket to retrieve a key, and unlocked one of the many drawers on the other side of his desk. From within, he pulled out a single business card and handed it gently to Yukina. “But whatever your reason is for looking for her, I only ask that you give her a chance. She’s worked too hard to deserve anything less than at least a chance, and I truly hope you give her at least that.”   
  
On the plain white business card was nothing more than the name of a doctor, and a hospital Yukina has never heard of. But with the single piece of light plastic, was a dread Yukina isn’t sure she, or any of the other girls in their little group, is ready to face.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the mystery is slowly being unraveled!
> 
> I have a hard time writing scenes like this, and I don’t think I was able to convey the feelings I want correctly. I’m pretty satisfied with the way it turned out, but I think it could be very much improved upon. That improvement may be reserved for a future work though, as I did try to rewrite the scene between Yukina and her father, but it just seemed to get worse. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I apologize for the wait! I hit writer’s block immediately after finishing chapter five and wasn’t able to write anything for chapter six until a few weeks ago. Then the realization that finals were so close hit me, and this was put on hold. With finals over, I hope I'll be able to release new chapters as often as I did at the start of this. Fingers crossed! 
> 
> Also, important note! I may change the title of this story very soon! I started this story without knowing what I wanted to title it, but as it continued to grow, I’ve been getting some newer ideas for a title. Please watch out for that if you’re still sticking around :) 
> 
> Not proofread. 
> 
> With all of that out of the way, happy reading!

It had been several days since Yukina’s father had given her the business card. She had silently took it up to her room, set it on her nightstand, and fell asleep without dinner that night. Her stomach the morning after was not happy about that decision. Her father is out of the house more often, and the constant new articles and news reports told her it was because her father was dealing with the media. He’s probably trying to get ahold of the situation. 

Yukina watched one interview out of curiosity, and as she expected, most of the questions revolved around Sayo. They were all similar too, all being different ways of asking, “Where is Hikawa Sayo?” or, “Why did Hikawa Sayo leave in the first place?” or even, “What can we expect for the future of the band?” The questions revolving around Sayo were not commented on any more than a simple, “She’s fine,” or "No comment," but every other was up for grabs. Her father mentioned that the band will continue to release music at their own pace and pleaded with fans to not bother them on the band’s official social media account. It was too late though, and each post was filled with comments asking about Hikawa Sayo, or asking for all the members to be unmasked. There are even rumors that the bassist has one foot out of the door due to a post being made of a packed up bass with the caption, “It's time to go.” Though some fans have called others to calm down due to similar posts being made in the past to show that the members have finished practice. But after the high that came in the form of the identity of one of the members, came the realization that this may bring the end of the band. 

The band revealed in their early interviews that they hide behind masks because they were afraid of what people would think of them if they were recognized. They said vaguely that each of them had enemies in their day to day lives and were afraid of what would happen now that their faces are plastered all over the internet (though Yukina recalls Hikasa saying that she wanted to be recognized for her guitar skills, not her face). The masks were originally used for this purpose, but as the years passed, the members revealed that they’re relieved to have masks because they made it easier for them to go outside and be themselves. 

The reveal now has fans worried that the rest of the band may worry for their own privacy. The forum discussions about the Hikawa twins were a week old now, and no one is active on them, for fans are now active on discussions that revolve around the act and desire of wanting to unmask the band members. Yukina recognizes some usernames from before, and noted how quickly their stance changed from wanting to know all the members, to now judging anyone who still wants to see the rest of the band behind the masks. This all opened Yukina's eyes to the reality of people, and if it weren’t for the dangling threat of the band breaking up to hold onto their privacy, she wondered if people would continue digging into the Hikawas and expressing their desire to unmask the rest of the band. 

Well, she knows not everyone is bad, of course. Ako was a sure example of that. 

“I can’t believe someone would do something like that!” Ako exclaimed while dealing with the mob of **《Hunting Wolves》** launching themselves at her. They were all currently somewhere on **《Mount Illusion》** staking out the boss location. They were attempting to put together a strategy since their sole  **<Tank> ** wasn’t around, and it proved to be difficult, as Rinko was rambling to herself nonstop about not being able to beat the boss without Sayo, and the rest of them were trying to ward off the constant company of **《Hunting Wolves》** and the occasional **《Ice Golem》** . 

“Um, what are we talking about Ako? Wah!” Lisa asked before jumping at the appearance of another pack of **《Hunting Wolves》** attacking her side of the protective triangle. Ako clicked her tongue before releasing Kuro. The black sprite made quick work to stop the advancement of the wolves with its  **<Shackle>** , and Yukina followed up the defensive spell by using  **<Pizzicato Strike>** to take out the wolves, while Lisa made sure the two of them were stocked plenty with mana. An **《Ice Golem》** came stomping through the snow-covered trees, and though it was slow, its very presence frightened them all. Ako released Kuro once more to use  **<Cloud>** to make it go to sleep to make sure it couldn’t even fire an ice shard from its otherwise conscious state while she helped Yukina finish off the newest pack of **《Hunting Wolves》** .

“I’m talking about Hina-san, of course!”  _ right, because that was so obvious _ . “I still can’t believe somebody basically assaulted her like that! I’m so ashamed.” 

“Wait, why are you ashamed? You had nothing to do with it.” Lisa wondered while using  **<Pray> ** to give Yukina and Ako a power boost. She tried using  **<Scatter Shot>** to try and do any sort of significant damage, but to no avail. Yukina remembers Rinko saying once that Lisa’s offensive skills are only good against Dark entities found in places like  **《The Dug-Up Graveyard》** ,  **《The Underground》** , **《Citadel for the Dead》** , and some dungeons. 

“Yeah, but now they might think all of us fans will want to assault them and take their masks off. A fanbase, to a lot of people, is one entity without individual differences. People will end up grouping the whole fanbase together, and everyone will start talking about it, and what if this causes Roselia to break up?” she growled in frustration before summoning Kuri and burning every mob around them. Rinko sneaked behind them quietly and began supporting them, but not without a rant. 

“I don’t think we’ll be able to do this. Sayo-san’s role is vital in any fight we have because she is our sole melee and defensive unit. Without her, our forward is left empty, leaving us vulnerable to both the illusions and also the attacks that follow. And I know all of us have practiced to recognize the illusions and know when to avoid them, but if one of us happens to get caught, none of us will be able to provide immediate support, and from the research I have compiled, none of us would be able to handle a direct attack from the boss unless Ako has Murasaki use  **<Focus Guard>** an average of four times. And even if we manage to survive with the boosts from  **<Focus Guard>** , we would barely do so, and then Lisa will have to use  **<Heal> ** several times, and if this happens, then half of us are off task, and-” 

“Alright, alright, RinRin, we get it.” Ako sighed before summoning Kuro and using  **<Shackle>** on the oncoming pack of **《Hunting Wolves》** . “I guess we can get off this mountain if there isn’t a point for us to be here…” 

“We can always try, right?” Lisa pitched. 

“Yeah, but it’s… not the same.” Ako mumbled. She looked upset, and Yukina wondered if it was because of Sayo’s absence and not at all about not being able to battle the boss of **《Mount Illusion》** . When they got off the mountain, Yukina felt eyes on her. For a few moments, she didn’t dare look in the direction she was feeling the stare, but that was until she felt the rest of the party looking at her. She turned to them and stopped, hoping someone would say something. They were silent for a bit. Rinko even turned away and began kicking her foot in the snowy terrain of the **《Tundra》** . Ako summoned Kuri to fire a warning shot at a closeby **《Polar Bear》** that ended up running back into the forest. It was strange to Yukina since it didn’t return like any other aggressive mob, but she didn’t mind. She thinks they’ve had enough battling for today. 

“Alright, Yukina, spill.” Lisa said suddenly. 

“What?” 

“It looks like you’re hiding something.” Ako said. 

“Or you want to say something, but you’re holding back...” Rinko added. Yukina glanced around before sighing.

“Actually, yes, there is something. Um…” 

“You can talk to us, Yukina.” Lisa said while hooking an arm around Yukina’s neck as an act of assurance. “We’re all good friends now, and if this about you-know-who,” she glanced up, and Ako and Rinko both nodded eagerly. “Then we’re all in this together.” she finished with a wide grin. Yukina took a deep breath and relaxed in Lisa’s half-embrace. Yukina wasn’t one for intimacy, but she would say that hugs are the best kind, however they were made. 

“So I know you girls told me that I didn’t have to talk to my dad or anything,” Yukina started. 

“O-oh no,” Rinko interrupted wearily. “Did something b-bad happen? I-I’m so sorry, Yukina-san, I-” 

“No, no, it was… it was actually pretty good.” Yukina offered a small smile. “It turned out pretty good, I think.” there was another moment of silence before Lisa squeezed her frame. 

“Well would you look at that~ Things are finally looking up, yeah?” she said quietly. Silence enveloped them again, and though it should have been awkward, Yukina felt comfortable. 

They never spoke about her father, and even if they did, it was never in a positive light. It was always about how she and father weren’t talking, or her father was blackout drunk, or her father broke something in the house again. Never were their talks about the repair of their relationship, and though it appeared the others were awkwardly quiet, Yukina felt that they were instead respectively listening. They were letting her speak freely about her father without judgement, and Yukina appreciated that above all else. Especially with-

“There’s another thing,” Yukina said. She looked up to gage the responses of the others, and they all expressed different levels of interest. Lisa was attentive as usual, her expression relatively unchanged; Ako’s eyes lit up, and her ears appeared to perk forward, ready to involve herself in the conversation; Rinko passively looked up through her bangs. Yukina wondered for a moment why no mobs were around them. “I got a business card from my dad.” confusion was evident, and they all looked at her expectantly. “I think its for Sayo’s doctor.” elation came across their faces to different degrees, with Ako being the first to jump on her. 

“Really? That’s great!” the younger girl paced in a tight circle. “W-we should go see her! Since he gave you the card, that means that he’s giving us access to her, right! We have to go see her!” Ako almost demanded. 

“I-I think we should too.” Rinko said in agreement. “At the very least, we can see if she’s okay.” she smiled a bit, and Yukina recognized that as Rinko’s physical expression of joy. 

“What do you think, Yukina?” Lisa asked. “Why don’t we meet up like this weekend? Send us the address, and we can go see her together.” she suggested gently. Yukina’s unease must have been detected by the brunette. 

“Sure. Yeah, we should definitely do that.” Ako leaped into the air and shouted in joy. Her yell must have sounded like a battlecry, because a **《Polar Bear》** made itself known and began running towards them from the depths of the forest. She and Rinko easily got rid of it, and as Ako ran through the virtual snow in excitement, Rinko followed, all the while calling for the purplette to slow down. 

“You okay?” Lisa asked after moving to face Yukina. 

“Yeah. I’m just… nervous.” her eyes wandered aimlessly through the all-white snow. 

“Nervous?” 

“I don’t know what to expect.” Yukina looked up and immediately turned away when Lisa’s eyes were staring right at her. 

“None of us do,” Lisa pulled her into a full embrace then. “But we’ll do this together, yeah?” Yukina wondered for a moment what she did in a past life to deserve such a patient, understanding friend like Lisa. 

“Yeah.”

**-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-**

The first issue was getting permission from their parents. The hospital that Sayo was at was located several cities away, and they would have to leave very early and likely return very late. Ako and Rinko had the hardest time getting their parents’ permission since Ako unfortunately brought up the fact that the person they are visiting is the same person she had met online several years ago. Yukina and Lisa had to go over to the Udagawa and Shirokane households to try and appeal in any way they could, making sure to bring up the fact that the two of them were third years, and that Yukina’s father’s reputation was one call to a reporter away if Ako and Rinko don’t return or are harmed. The latter especially seemed to sell it, and after that, was getting their train tickets. 

None of them knew how to drive yet, and since none of them had ever gone to that other city before, they had to gather around a map to figure out what train lines they needed to take, and how much money they needed to bring. Yukina was surprised though when she arrived home one day to see an envelope on her bed. She opened it up to see several thousand yen, as well as a little note in her father’s handwriting. 

“I’m not sure if you’ll accept this, but it’s the least I can do. I know you’re planning on going with some friends, so I hope this is enough. If it isn’t, please don’t hesitate to come and talk to me. Or just talk to me. I know it won’t make up for what I did, but we should catch up one day. I want to be able to talk to you again.” 

A bit of a smile crept up on her lips as she reread the note several times. She felt sentimental today, so she took a bit of tape and stuck the note neatly on the head of her bed. She hoped that her father wouldn’t come into her room and find it. She doesn’t know how embarrassed she’d be. She was tempted to take it down for a moment, but she decided against it. Yukina then texted the other girls in their group chat and was met with lots of emojis, kaomojis, and what she now knows are called GIFs--she argues with Ako to this day on how to pronounce it. 

They began their mini-journey that weekend. They boarded the train really early in the morning, so there weren’t that many people. As the sun rose, though, it not only began to blind them, but also brought hundreds of men and women on their way to work. Ako wouldn’t stop talking the whole way there, and Rinko just listened and nodded with everything she said, occasionally adding some of her own dialogue. Lisa was scrolling through her phone, and from her facial expressions alone, Yukina deduced that she was online shopping. Yukina herself couldn’t help but fiddle with the business card she had received from her father. It was bent in several places now, and its white coloring was now turning gray in some places. 

Yukina was beyond worried. She searched the hospital that Sayo was at to find a brief description that said that the patients there were victims of rare diseases, many of which were terminal. The hospital acted like a research institution, where they conducted experiments to try and find cures for these rare diseases. Otherwise, it functioned as a place to help ease the lives of their patients as their health declined further and further. Yukina didn’t want to expect the worst, but she knew that she had to keep it in mind because it was very likely that she’d find Sayo strapped to a bed, suffering from a disease no one knew how to fight. She worried the whole way there, if the tenderness of her bottom lip told her anything. If any of the other girls noticed, they didn’t pause to comfort her. But Yukina thinks and decides that she prefers it this way. She didn’t create a stoic facade for nothing after all. 

When they reached their stop, Yukina couldn’t help but feel the hesitation from not only herself, but from the other girls. Lisa, who normally would have returned to chatting with the rest of them, was still glued to her phone. Rinko found her bangs to be very out of place suddenly, as she moved them back and forth, messing them up, fixing them, and doing it again. Ako’s whole body was fidgeting nonstop, from the wiggling of her toes, which were visible through her sandals, to the scrunching of her hands, wrinkling the fabric of her skirt. They luckily were in a spot against a pillar mostly out of the way of people going in and out of the station. Some passerbyers gave them looks as they hurriedly went about their day, but Yukina was glad none of the other people tried to talk to them. She doesn’t think she’d know where to start. 

Lisa took the lead then, saying something about not having all day and marching off with her phone in hand. Yukina looked over her shoulder to spot a map open towards the hospital, and Yukina was struck with the fact that she wouldn’t have known where to go from here without a map. If she was alone, Yukina probably would have just stood by that pillar till it was dark, or someone asked her if she was okay. She doesn’t think she would have known how to answer the latter. 

Yukina wasn’t sure how long it took or how far they walked, but they eventually arrived at the hospital. Yukina felt Lisa hesitate for a moment before gripping her hand tighter and walking right in with her shoulders pulled back. Yukina allowed her eyes to roam the front lobby before landing on the front desk. The other girls glanced around as well, and when Yukina felt Lisa’s eyes on her, she knew the brunette followed her gaze for she then began bringing their group over to the desk where a woman greeted them brightly. 

“Hi,” the woman said sweetly. Her tone was enthusiastic yet quiet, and Yukina couldn’t help but get distracted by it for a split second. She seemed to be very distracted today. “How can I help you girls today?” she asked, her eyes sweeping over their group before landing on Lisa. 

“Yes, um, we were wondering if we would be able to see Hikawa Sayo?” a look came over the woman as she looked between their group nervously. This secret must have been pretty well kept for the woman to appear so lost. 

“U-um, and who am I speaking to?” she asked finally after shifting from them to her desk repeatedly. The man next to her appeared confused by her strange movements, seemingly trying to communicate with the woman as she looked around, lost. 

“I’m Imai Lisa,” the brunette then began pointing to the rest of them. “And these are my friends, Udagawa Ako, Shirokane Rinko, and Minato Yukina.” the woman seemed unimpressed as the names were listed until she laid eyes on Yukina. A spark seemed to go off, and the woman clicked expertly through her monitor screen before pulling something up. 

“Minato Yukina-san, yes? Your father actually put in a word as a heads up that you may be coming.” the girls all looked to Yukina, eyes full of hope. They’d get to see Sayo! “I’m sorry, but he didn’t mention you’d come with a group.” they deflated then, and Yukina began to panic. He must have forgotten to specify that she wasn’t coming alone. 

“O-oh, d-do you think I could call him?” Yukina asked. 

“I’m sorry, but due to Hikawa-san being a public figure, it is in the hospital’s and Hikawa-san’s family’s best interest to keep her presence here as much of a secret as possible. Not that I believe any of you girls will turn to social media and spread the word, but it is just our policy. Because of that, he has to be here to approve of it. I could have let you girls in if you were relatives of Hikawa-san or Minato-san, but since you aren’t, my hands are unfortunately tied.” the woman said, genuinely apologetic. Yukina wasn’t sure what her friends were doing as her eyes were boring into the floor, but she could feel their stares and she didn’t want to look up. “If Minato-san does intend to see Hikawa-san,” the woman said, likely towards Lisa. “Then she’ll go down that corridor all the way to the back of this building,” she paused, likely pointing in a certain direction. “Then she’ll exit through the back doors and follow the path all the way till she sees building number eight. From there, take a left till you hit a fork and you’ll head down towards building number eleven. There are plenty of signs along the way, but if you happen to get lost, there are security guards near every building, and they will happily point you in the right direction.” 

“Thank you,” Lisa said. “Do you think we can at least walk her over to building eleven and then wait outside for her?” there was a pause. 

“Sure, as long as you don’t try and enter the building with her.” the faint sound of a pen against the plastic-covered-wood of the desk entered Yukina’s ears. “Here is a pass for Minato-san.” an unrecognization noise sounded, and though Yukina wasn’t sure what it was at first, seeing the pass told Yukina that it was a stamp of approval with today’s date. They were quite thorough with this. “Also since you’re all here,” the woman trailed off while rummaging through something. The clamber of wood sounded, and Yukina allowed her eyes to look up to see several clipboards. “I’m going to have you all sign these forms. They are to ensure that you keep this a secret so that Hikawa-san can continue to receive treatment here without it being publicly known.” 

“Yes, of course, thank you.” Lisa said while taking the clipboards one by one, handing one each to Ako and Rinko. The brunette then grabbed the two remaining in one hand and gently took Yukina’s with the other to lead her towards a little corner of the waiting lobby. They settled by a fish tank, and Yukina once again found herself distracted. 

Time in the lobby flew by, and if Yukina filled out the form, she doesn’t remember doing so. Either she blanked out for that long, or Lisa had filled it out for her. Not that the task would have been very difficult for Lisa, as the brunette knew Yukina sometimes more than Yukina knew herself. The next thing that she remembers is a light breeze sweeping her hair into her face. She reached her fingers up to brush them aside and finally came back to reality. 

They were walking towards building number eight with Ako and Rinko leading, pointing to and fro as they followed the winding cement path. Lisa’s hand was still wrapped firmly around hers, dragging Yukina along without a word. Yukina remembers this happening a lot, especially when they were younger, and Yukina smiled fondly at memories of much smaller versions of her and her childhood friend. Yukina wondered for a moment why she was feeling so sentimental, but Lisa’s back nearing her face stopped her in her tracks. After she had managed to skid to a stop, Lisa turned around to face her before tilting her head to gesture towards the towering building number eight. 

“I guess this is where we leave you for now, Yukina.” Lisa said gently. Yukina was on autopilot then, her mind blocking out anything else her friends said to her as she approached the entrance to building number eight. 

She didn’t see a single person in the lobby of building number eight, but the woman at the front desk made up for the emptiness with her bright smile. Yukina managed to function enough to hand her pass over to the woman without a word, not even offering the other woman a smile. The woman smiled kindly anyway, probably used to all sorts of people by now. She typed something into the computer, looking between the monitor and the pass, and finally to Yukina. She then offered another smile before handing the pass back to her. 

“Hikawa-san is currently in her therapy session right now which is actually in building number twelve.” she pointed ambiguously towards another path. “Exit the building and make a right, and you’ll follow the path till you see building number twelve.” the woman offered one last smile before waving, a clear sign that it was Yukina’s cue to leave. 

Yukina was once again on autopilot as she moved back outside, near ignoring her friends as she walked down the path. It wasn't even cold out, yet Yukina felt shivers run down her spine. It also wasn't hot out, yet her palms were sweating. Maybe she was sick. She should probably just turn around right now to avoid making Sayo's condition worse. What if she was getting a cold? What if she had the flu? What if she- 

The cool breeze of the air-conditioned building number twelve hit Yukina like a truck, and she was knocked right out of her stupor. She turned around to face the concerned faces of her friends. She offered them a small smile and a nod of acknowledgement, and that seemed to comfort them enough. Lisa gestured with her hands for Yukina to go on in, and with another nod, she did. 

The person at the desk this time was a man who smiled at her kindly. He offered her a bright greeting, and she returned it with a reserved wave. He took it in stride, just as the other woman did. Like in building number eight, Yukina handed her pass over for it to get processed. She allowed her eyes to scan the lobby of building number twelve, and noticed that it was much more populated than building number eight. 

Building number twelve had a few families around, making the atmosphere warmer than building number eight's. She observed soft smiles and quiet laughs, and even smiled herself as she watched a young boy run around the lobby to and from a woman in a wheelchair as she conversed with a man. 

"Minato-san?" she whipped her head back when the man at the desk called out to her. He smiled again while handing her pass back to her. “Lucky for you, Hikawa-san is just about done with her session today, but you may catch her right at the end of it. Just go down that hall and make a left towards physical therapy. She’ll be in room number nineteen.” unlike the woman in building number eight, this man didn’t wave her off. Yukina kind of wishes he did though because a solid ten seconds passed before she decided to stop staring and follow the man’s directions. 

The shivers returned full force, and this time, Yukina told herself that it was because of the air conditioning. Her palms were still sweaty though, and she stretched her clenched fists out to wipe them against her shirt. Her hands had begun to cramp, and she clenched and unclenched them to try and get the blood flowing again. Maybe this is why her fingers felt so numb. 

She poked her head towards the hall that belonged to physical therapy, and besides the one doctor (she assumed they were a doctor since they had a white lab coat on) walking in her direction with their head down as they read through a paper in their hands, there wasn’t anyone. There were numbers above the doors of the hall though, so Yukina slowly made her way towards room number nineteen, which she couldn’t even see in this part of the hall. As she passed by the other rooms, Yukina looked through the glass of rooms one to seven to see some patients and physical therapists as they worked out on bicycles and treadmills. Yukina also spotted a few exercises balls and jump ropes in corners or hanging from hooks. From rooms eight to eighteen though, there wasn’t a single person from what Yukina could see. Maybe it was precaution to try and keep Sayo away from as many eyes as possible? Yukina couldn’t be sure, but considering the process it took for her to get here, she wouldn’t be surprised. 

Yukina had to make a couple turns to lead her towards room number nineteen, and in this particular hallway, there were only rooms number nineteen and twenty, and what appeared to be an office of sorts with a plaque that said, “Employees Only.” Yukina noticed that rooms number nineteen and twenty were a bit different than rooms one through eighteen. One of them being that they appeared to be much bigger than the other rooms, and also that rooms nineteen and twenty were observable through wide windows rather than just through the small window in the door of rooms one through eighteen. To prolong the inevitable, Yukina scanned room twenty to find it completely void of any people. Silence filled the hall, and it was then that Yukina realized she couldn’t distract herself with anything else. She took a deep breath then before turning on her heels to face the window that kept her from going right into room number nineteen. 

Upon spotting teal hair, Yukina's steps slowed. Her mind brought back memories of every live stage she had seen of Roselia and distinctly remembered how it felt to see Hikasa. The guitarist was a one of a kind with her rimrod posture, giving her such a regal image to anyone not staring at her the entire performance. Yet the assertive steps she took (however small) towards the edge of the stage, and the way her fingers flew across the strings with expert ease, but also a tinge of reckless abandon showcased to Yukina just how much control the guitarist had over her body. It was as if the girl tried her damned hardest to keep herself at bay, but the underlying elation of playing the guitar seeped into her movements when she wasn't focused on keeping her stage presence consistent. And it was those short moments of the guitarist letting loose that drew Yukina towards her, and was one of the many reasons she genuinely fell in love with Roselia and their music. The raw skills due to constant practicing, and the brimming excitement due to the undeniable passion from every member of the band shone differently in every performance, and it always made their performances worth the watch and listen. The control they had over their music, yet the freedom they allowed themselves always made their performances unique, and it was something Yukina had yet to find in any other band. 

So seeing that same tealette, who she previously admired for her control, struggling to hold herself up between two wooden bars had Yukina choking on air. 

Sayo was on the opposite side of large glass windows, in a room with equipment Yukina had either never seen before or had only seen on television shows and commercials. She stepped up to the glass to look around the room, her eyes blatantly avoiding the girl at the center. She couldn't keep her attention away for long though, as the moment her eyes spotted another woman in the room facing the opposite direction of her, a thud sounded. 

Yukina's eyes tore back to the center, knowing nothing else in that room could have made a sound besides the tealette. The woman on the other side of the room rushed over to Sayo, seemingly asking her if she was okay as she now kneeled on the floor. It was then that Sayo's arm lashed out to hit one of the steel bars holding up the wood she was previously gripping onto. 

"Dammit!" she yelled out, and Yukina swore she heard her voice crack. The other woman looked up to notice Yukina, and after several moments of silence, the teal head turned up so Yukina could now face green orbs. 

A lone tear rolled down her pale skin as Sayo's eyes found hers. The anger in them dissipated as recognition now painted itself across Sayo's widened eyes and tight lips. Then defeat fell like a shadow as Sayo's head hung, and she faced the ground, her shoulders shaking from either enraged fury or suppressed sobs. 

Yukina didn't know what she was expecting when she decided she would look for Sayo. She certainly wasn't expecting this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know if contracts of confidentiality actually work like this, but I figured it’d be a quick way to cover any sort of plot holes pertaining to why Sayo was able to hide away from the media for this long without anything getting leaked or whatever since I don’t know how celebrities go about getting medical treatment without fans flocking the hospitals (unless celebrities getting flocked by fans is what actually happens). 
> 
> There are probably awkward transitions in this chapter, but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to fill the scene changes without it dragging on for too long or making it too sudden. What you just read is what I settled on, and I hope it was okay! 
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! And if you’re returning, then thank you for your patience!


End file.
